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HISTOEY AND GEOGRAPHY 

OF 

THE MIDDLE AGES. 

FOR 

COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS. 

(CHIEFLY FROM THE FRENCH^) r- 

' • i ■ 

BY 

GEORGE WASHINGTON GREENE, 

AUTHOR OP ' LIFE OF GEN. GREENE,' ' HISTORICAL STUDIES,' ETC. 



PART L /$' '^ 

HISTOEY. \A^-- 



NEW-YOEK : 
D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY. 

PHILADELPHIA : 
GEO. S. APPLETON, 164 CHESNUT-ST. 

1851. 



%-\. 



Entered, according to Act oi Congress, in the year 185CI, by 

D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 

iB'the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern ' 
District of New- York. 






PREFACE. 



The following pages, as tlie title indicates, are cMefly 
taken from a popular Frencli work wliicli lias passed 
rapidly tlirougli several editions, and received tlie 
sanction of tke University. It will be found to con- 
tain a clear and satisfactory exposition of tke revolu- 
tions of tke Middle Ages, with, suck general views of 
literature, society and manners, as are required to ex- 
plain tke passage from ancient to modern kistory. 
At tke kead of eack ckapter tkere is an analytical 
summary, wkick will be found of great assistance in 
examination or in review. Instead of a single list of 
sovereigns, I kave preferred giving full genealogical 
tables, wkick are muck clearer and infinitely more 
satisfactory. A select bibliograpky of tke Middle 
Ages, witk tke references for a full course of reading 
or study, will be found in tke second part. 



2 PREFACE. 

TMs little volume is the first of a series, in wHcli 
I hope to do sometMng towards the promotion of a 
taste for historical studies in our colleges and schools. 
There is no department in which text-books are more 
needed. The student needs them as a guide, the 
teacher as an outline, and the general reader, who has 
already gone over the ground in detail, as a reference, 
by which he can revive old studies and give unity to 
his conceptions, by a clear and comprehensive classifi- 
caition. 

a. w. G. 

Brown University, September 19, 1850. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAOE. 

Introduction, 5 

Chapter I. — Invasion of the Barbarians, 13 

Chapter II. — Goths and Lombards, .34 

Chapter III. — Anglo-Saxons, 61 

Chapter IV. — History of the Franks — Organization of the Bar- 
barians after the Conquest, 60 

Chapter V. — The Eastern Empire to the Crusades, . . 82 

Chapter VI. — Church — Letters and Arts, 97 

Chapter VII. — Mahometanism, 120 

Chapter VIII. — Carolingian Empire, . . . . • . 148 
Chapter IX. — Establishment of the Feudal System, . . 156 

Chapter X. — Invasions of the Northmen, 170 

Chapter XL— History of Germany and Italy to the death of 

Frederick II., 186 

Chapter XH. — History of the Crusades, 215 

Chapter XIII. — Germany from the thirteenth to the fifteenth 

century, 241 

Chapter XIV. — Italy from the thirteenth to the fifteenth cen- 
tury, 255 

Chapter XV. — France and England during the first period of 

their rivalry, 279 

Chapter XVI. — France and England during the second period 

of their rivalry, 306 

Chapter XVII. — History of the Sclavonic and Scandinavian 
States from their origin to the middle of the fifteenth 

century, 317 

Chapter XVIII. — Spain — History of the Arabs and the Chris- 
tian kingdoms in Spain to the accession of Henry IV. to the 

throne of Castile, 336 

Chapter XIX.— Greeks and Turks — State of Europe at the end 

ofthe Middle Ages, 354 



4 CONTENTS. 

FAQE. 

Chapter XX. — Summary notions of the arts, literature, the 
sciences, and commerce in Europe, from Charlemagne to 

the taking of Constantinople, 873 

Synchronitic table of the History of the Middle Ages, . . 397 

Genealogy of the Merovingian race, 413 

Genealogy of the Merovingian race continued, . , . 414 

Carolingian emperors and kings of Italy, .... 415 

Genealogy of the Carolingian kings of France, . . . 416 

Genealogy of the Capetian dynasty to Lewis the Fat, . , 417 

First branch of the Capetians, 418 

Genealogy of the first branch of Valois, 419 

Kings of England — House of Normandy and Anjou, . . 420 

Kings of England continued 421 

Imperial house of Saxony, 422 

Imperial house of Franconia, 423 

House of Hohenstaufen, or Suabia, 424 

Second house of Guelph, or Este, 425 

Imperial house of Hapsburg and Luxemburg, . . . 426 

Kings of Castile and Leon, 427 

Kings of Aragon, Majorca, and Sicily, 428 

Chronological series of the emperors of the East, . , , 429 

Greek emperors of the house of Comnenus, . , , 480 

Greek emperors of the house of Angelus, .... 430 

Latin emperors of Constantinople, . . . . . 431 

Greek emperors of Nice, 431 

Greek emperors of the house of Paleologus, . . . 482 

Sultans of the Ottoman Turks to Mahomet II., ... 483 
Chronological series of the popes from Gregory VII. to the 

end of the great schism of the West, .... 483 

Popes of the great schism of the West, .... 434 
Popes from the end of the great schism to the taking of 

Constantinople, 484 

Contemporary sovereigns, 485 

Tabular view of the dismemberment of the empire, , , 445 

Dismemberment of Navarre, 446 

Tabular view of the three Caliphates, 447 

Tabular view of the remai'kable persons of the crusades, . 449 
Synoptical table of the administration of Charles V. and Ed- 
ward III., 452 

Reforms and Institutions in France and England during the 

second period of the hundred years' war, . , ■ . . 453 



HISTOEY OP THE MIDDLE AGES. 



INTRODUCTION. 



EXTENT OF THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. ITS GREAT 

DIVISIONS. ENUMERATION OF THE PRINCIPAL STATES FOUND- 
ED DURING THIS PERIOD OF HISTORY, IN THEIR GEOGRAPH- 
ICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. THEIR RESPECTIVE IM- 
PORTANCE IN THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

I. 

1. Extent of the history of the Middle Ages. — Its great 
Divisions. — The Middle Ages were long considered as an 
obscure and uninteresting epoch, the history of which could 
take only a secondary place in a course of study. But since 
the works of Thierry, Guizot, Michelet, Lingard, Hallam, 
Hurter, and Voigt, a new lustre has been cast upon this pe- 
riod, till then so imperfectly understood, which, revealing its 
true character, has shown how important a place it really 
holds in the world's history. Then appeared those phases in 
the progress of civilization, under the influence of Christian- 
ity, which are often so grand, and the true origin of modern 
society, the actual state of which can only be understood by 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

tracing it back to its birth, and following up its development 
through the middle ages. 

Two great facts give the middle ages an aspect peculiar, 
ly their own : the first, is the introduction into the European 
world of that new element, the barbaric race, which at differ, 
ent periods modified without destroying the old races on 
which the Roman dominion had set its seal ; the second was 
the supreme and regulating action of the church, which pro- 
duced a gradual and successive fusion of these two ele- 
ments, and assembled them in a grand unity, harbinger of the 
political union of all nations in modern times. 

The development of these two leading facts decides the 
beginning, the highest point, and the end of the epoch which 
is known by the general name of middle ages, a name which 
is admirably expressive of an epoch of transition and organ- 
ization. Although historians generally begin the middle 
ages with the final division of the empire, it may, with truth, 
be said to have begun at the moment in which the invasion 
of the Barbarians, long confined to partial incursions, was 
changed to a sudden and general irruption (376 — 406). It 
continues through those centuries during which the Holy 
See, the centre of European policy, rallies all people around 
it, and forms that vast body which has been designated so justly 
by the name of Christendom. It ends at the moment in 
which the fall of Constantinople marks the final progress of 
the great Mussulman invasion (1453) at a moment in which 
a universal agitation in the minds of men announces that re- 
ligious revolution of the sixteenth century which was to anni- 
hilate for ever the temporal power, the supreme arbitrage of 
the sovereign pontiff, and give a new base to modern policy. 

This epoch may be divided into four great periods : 1st. 
From the final division of the empire to Charlemagne, the 
period of permanent invasion (395 — 800) ; 2d. From Charle- 
magne to Gregory VII., period of the second invasion and of 



INTRODUCTION. 



the feudal system (800—1073) ; 3d. From Gregory VII. to 
Boniface VIII., period of pontifical influence (1073 — 1294) j 
4th. From Boniface VIII. to the fall of Constantinople, period 
of the restoration of royal power (1294^1453). 



II. 



2. First Period : From the final division of the Empire 
to Charlemagne. — Character of this period. — I. (395-800). 
The first period, which would begin more naturally with the 
entrance of the Goths into the empire (376) was prepared by 
that long series of local irruptions which had already greatly 
modified the population of the Roman provinces. This was 
the epoch of the great invasion of the Germanic races, which 
completed the transformation of the provinces by renewing 
their manners, government and laws. The impotence of the 
empire had no sooner been manifested by its final division, than 
all the frontiers were opened to the incursions of the Barba- 
rians, who introduced unknown elements into the bosom of 
the Roman world. New states arise in Spain, in Gaul, in 
Africa and in Italy. The western empire falls at the shock. 
The Empire of the East alone remains and seems to have 
been spared. But while it vainly endeavors to resume the 
extei-nal supremacy which is slipping from its grasp, a new, 
and no less terrible invasion threatens it from the East. Ma- 
hometanism, issuing from Arabia, springs forward, sword in 
hand, conquers, overthrows by its invincible impetuosity 
whatever opposes it, and imposes upon the terrified nations its 
dogmas, its principles and its laws. It wrests all the 
provinces of Asia from the empire, and from Christianity the 
spot in which it had been cradled. Soon it advances toward 
the west, through the northern districts of Africa ; but this 
great effort is broken by the resistance of the Frank and 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

Germanic races, led by Charles Martel. The grandson of 
the conqueror of the Saracens, Charlemagne, soon after arrests 
the movements of the people of the north and the south by his 
triumph over the Saxons and the Huns. The Empire of the 
West, which the invasion had overthrown at the beginning 
of this period, rises again at its close, to mark the end of this 
general commotion of nations. 

3. Second Period: From Charlemagne to Gregory VII. — 

II. After the Germanic invasion follows the Scandinavian 
or Norman invasion, which falling upon states scarcely organ- 
ized, checks their first progress, and opens an epoch of decay 
and struggle, augmented by the destructive incursions of the 
Scythic or Hungarian races. In the heart of vast and pow- 
erful dominions a crowd of petty principalities arise and or- 
ganize the defence ; the royal power is no longer any thing 
more than that of a lord paramount : the reign of feudalism 
begins. In Germany alone, the royal authority resists for a 
long time, and appears still to maintain itself, when it seems 
annihilated among the other people of the west ; but the vic- 
tory of feudalism was the more complete and lasting for 
having been retarded so long. 

The great Mussulman empire is a prey, like Christian 
Europe, to a general parcelling. The vast and strong unity 
which had rendered it so redoubtable, is for ever broken, and 
its divisions prepare the way for its decay. 

4. Third Period : From Gregory VII. lo BonifaceVIlI. — 

III. A deep-felt want of order and union is experienced in the 
midst of these crises and convulsions. There is but one 
regular, unchanging power in the world, the power of the 
popes ; and Christendom takes refuge in the shade of this 
great and sovereign influence. The popes, called by the 
nature of events to reassemble and combine all the elements 
of the new society, unite political with religious supremacy. 
Kings appeal to them as arbiters ; the people, as the defenders 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

of their rights and their dawning liberty. The temporal 
action of the Holy See is felt in the interior of Europe by 
that great work of protection and universal mediation ; with- 
out, by the crusades, which the first time unite the Europe- 
an states in the same thought and the same enterprise — the 
crusade, that great manifestation of religious enthusiasm, 
and of the ardent faith of the middle ages. In the political 
world their principal results were the strengthening of royal 
authority and the weakening of feudalism, by uniting the in- 
habitants of the same territory under the same standard, and 
thus restoring national unity, by re-establishing the bonds of 
subordination in the higher classes, and by favoring the de- 
velopment of the commons. 

5. Fourth Period : From Boniface VIII. to the taking of 
Constantinople. — IV. When the royal authority began to grow 
strong again, and every nation to become more firmly and 
regularly organized, the temporal power slipped from the 
hands of the prince of the church : and politics were separa- 
ted from religion, while royalty triumphed throughout Eu- 
rope. 

The decay of the Mussulman dominion continues in 
Spain ; but Mahometanism, reanimated by the energy of a 
new race from central Asia, regains in the East what it loses 
in the West ; the power of the Ottoman Turks overcomes, after 
a long struggle, the feeble Empire of the East. The conquest 
of Greece and taking of Constantinople, final results of the 
invasion of the Barbarians, complete the introduction into 
Europe of the elements of its modern organization. 



III. 



6. Principal States founded during these different periods ; 
their respective importance. — The first invasion, by dismem- 

1* 



10 IKTRODUCTION. 

bering the Empire of the West, gives rise : in Western 
Europe, to the kingdom of the Visigoths (413), which after 
having absorbed that of the Suevi (585) is overthrown by the 
Arabs (Til); to the kingdom of the Franks (481), which is 
to destroy that of the Burgundians, and continue from the 
epoch of the invasion to modern times ; to the kingdom of the 
Ostrogoths (493), which flourishes in great splendor during a 
short period, and is replaced by that of the Lombards (570). 
In Africa is founded the kingdom of the Vandals, to be anni- 
hilated under Justinian (534), and finally, in the west of Eu- 
rope, the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy (455 — 880) results from a 
second phase of the Germanic invasion. The supremacy be- 
longs to the Ostrogoths under the great Theodosius, and slips 
from them to pass gradually to the Franks, who at the end of 
this period exercise an immense preponderance under Pepin 
and Charlemagne, to whom the Holy See owes the first origin of 
its temporal power. In Asia arose with prodigious rapidity the 
Mussulman empire, which, a century after its birth, contends 
at the same time against the Empire of the East in Asia 
Minor, and the Franks on the north of the Pyrenees, and sup- 
planted for ever in Asia and in Africa the dominion of the 
emperors of Constantinople. But the division of the Ca- 
liphate presages the destruction of this colossal power, and 
favors in Spain the progress of the little kingdoms of the As- 
turias and Leon. In the north of Eui'ope the kingdom of 
Poland is established (about 600) and begins to develop itself 
under the influence of Christianity. 

The second period sees arise from the wrecks of the em- 
pire of Charlemagne, the kingdom of France proper, the 
German empire, the kingdom of Navarre, the kingdom of 
Italy, and the two kingdoms of Burgundy. The maritime 
republics of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice, acquire or maintain 
their independence. The Christian reaction in Spain gives 
rise to the kingdoms of Castillo and Aragon. The Scandi- 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

navian invasion lays the foundation of the duchy of Nor- 
mandy (885), which in 1066 extends its dominion over the 
Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. In 1057 it lays the foun- 
dation of the Norman kingdom of Italy. The kingdom of 
Hungary was founded in the tenth century by Asiatic tribes. 
In the north and out of the sphere of the European movements 
were founded the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, 
and the grand-duchy of Russia (864). During the greater 
part of this period the preponderance belongs to the German 
empire. 

During the third period the kingdom of Portugal was 
formed (1139) in the Spanish peninsula, at the expense of the 
Mussulman power, which is divided in the East, where it is 
shaken by the Crusades and by the terrible incursions of the 
Moguls, who extend their inroads into Europe, and overthrow 
the Sclavonic states. The German empire and the Holy See 
contend energetically for the political supremacy, which in 
the end falls to Rome. The crusades develop rapidly the 
power of the maritime republics of Italy, and favor the for- 
mation and development of the Hanseatic league in Ger- 
many. 

During the last period of the middle ages, no power suc- 
ceeds to the universal ascendant of the Holy See. England, 
by her triumphs in her contests with France, acquires a pre- 
ponderance in the West, which France, soon after victorious 
in turn, wrests from her. The German empire falls from 
the high rank which it had held ; but already the increase 
of the house of Austria foreshadows the part which it will 
soon be called upon to fill, although the formation of the 
Hanseatic league (1308) has diminished its territories and 
compromised its influence. In the East the Mussulman 
power gradually replaces that of the emperor of Constanti- 
nople, until at last this old dominion falls. In the North, the 
re-union of Lithuania and Poland (1386) secures to the lat- 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

ter a great preponderance, balanced, however, in the four- 
teenth century, by the great confederation of Colmar, which 
unites for several years Denmark, Sweden, and Norway 
(1389). 

Northern and southern Europe, still isolated, will only 
be definitively drawn nearer together in modern times. 

Our aim will be to give a correct idea of European soci- 
ety in the middle ages. This can only be done by showing, 
on the authority of the great works by which Germany has 
enriched this portion of historical science, the true character 
of that pontifical influence which is mingled with all the im- 
portant facts of this period and controls so many of them ; 
and pointing out, amid the variety of events, the origin and pro- 
gress of constitutions and government, which form for every 
people the truest expression of their manners and traditions. 



CHAPTER I. 

IHTASIOIT OP THE BAEBAEIANS. 



SUMMARY. 



§ I. State of the Roman world, at the end of the fourth century. — 
General exhaustion in the provinces. — Decay of the Municipal System. 
Introduction of the Barbarians into the Empire. — Division and rivalry of 
the Empii-es of the East and West. 

§ II. General character of the barbarian world at this epoch. — 
Three great families of Barbarians. — Scythian and Tartar races. — The 
Moguls, the Mantchoos, the Turks, the Avars, the Huns. — Manners of the 
Hunnish nations. — Manners of the Sclavonians milder than those of the 
Scythians. — Secondary roll of the Sclavonians in the great invasion. — 
Three great tribes in the family of the Sclavonians. — Of the Bulgarians 
and Alani. — Germanic family : Allemanni, Franks, Suevi, Burgundians, 
Angles, Saxons, Lombards, Vandals, Hemli. — Of the Gothic nations. — 
Customs of the Germans. — Manners, government, religion. 

§ III. Double aspect of the invasion of the Barbarians. — Its two dis- 
tinct phases. — State of the Empire after Theodosius. — Arcadius and 
Honorius. — Power of Stilicon. — Invasion of Alaric, king of the Visigoths, 
in Greece and Italy. — Invasion of Radogast. — Great invasion — Suevi, 
Vandals, Alans, Burgundians, Franks. — Constance, Emperor of Gaul. — 
Assassination of Stilicho. — Sack of Rome by Alaric. — The Visigoths in 
the south of Gaul under Adolphus, Alaric's successor.— Wallia in 
Spain. 

§ IV. Successors of Honorius. — Valentinian III. — Quarrel of Boni- 
face and Aetius. — The Vandals in Africa. — Genseric — Attila. — Battle 



14 DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

of Chalons. — Sack of Rome by Genseric. — Influence of the Suevian 
Ricimer. — Majorian. — Last emperors. — Orestes and Augustnlus over- 
thrown by Odoacer. — Fall of the Western empire. 

§1. 

GENERAL IDEA OF THE DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

7. Extent of the Empire. — The world, at the close of the 
fourth century, presents a smgular spectacle. You still 
see the vast empire of Augustus, of Constantino, of Theodo- 
sius, comprising the richest and most beautiful countries that 
border on the Mediterranean. The Rhine, the Danube, the 
Euxine and the Euphrates still separate, in appearance, the 
Roman world from the Barbarians. On the one hand, we 
see ancient civilization and the consecrated traditions of the 
imperial dominion ; on the other, wandering tribes of savages 
and the unknown elements of a new society. But every 
thing shows that a work, which had been begun long before, 
was about to be consummated by a terrible crisis ; that an 
universal destruction was about to blend, every where, all 
these different people, already mingled, in so many places, by 
local invasions ; and that after the various phases of a long 
revolution, there would no longer be either Romans or Bar- 
barians, but for the first time in the world's history, European 
states. 

8. Extent of the Roman world at the end of the Fourth 
Century ; general exhaustion. — Since Constantino, the empire 
had been sustained by a borrowed life and a factitious en- 
ergy. The reforms which men of powerful genius had at- 
tempted, had acted upon it like those violent remedies which 
restore a transient vigor by exhausting all the springs of life. 
A single century had been sufficient to produce this fatal 
result, and notwithstanding the splendor of the reign of The- 
odosius, the empire was at the eve of its final ruin. The 



DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 15 

apparent regularity of the administration, the skilful and 
complicated organization of public functions, could no longer 
conceal its real decay. The municipal system, destined to 
regenerate the provinces, was still struggling against its own 
impotence (see Roman History), crushing the population, and 
absorbing the fortunes of individuals, without sustaining the 
government or restoring public prosperity. The defenders of 
the cities {defensores civitatis) carried up fruitless complaints 
to the governors, or employed their influence to oppress their 
fellow-citizens. An universal sense of discouragement had 
seized upon men's minds at the sight of incurable evils, which 
this discouragement itself only served to render more sensi- 
ble. The husbandmen abandoned their fields in order to 
escape taxation, and the soil which they no longer cultivated 
became a desert waste. The municipal officers abandoned 
their posts to fly from the responsibilities which they imposed : 
the counts and dukes opened their frontiers to the stranger, 
rather than engage in a hopeless contest ; and the barriers 
which had so long held the Barbarians at bay, were thrown 
down, one after the other, by the Romans themselves. If a 
wandering tribe chanced to fall, sword in hand, upon some 
province, it had nothing to fear from its inhabitants. Italy, 
which had conquered the world, Gaul, which had once filled 
up the legions of Cassar, could no longer furnish a single 
soldier : and the invaders could pass boldly on from province 
to province, until they were repulsed by some other tribe in 
the emperor's pay, or had established themselves permanently 
on the territories of the empii'e. But while the population 
was thus renewed, it was changed too in its character, and 
these new citizens, even while they accepted the forms of the 
imperial government, often awaited but the favorable moment 
of separating themselves from the centre, and resuming their 
nationality. The continuation of the invasion hastened the 
dissolution which was already prepared from within. 



16 ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE BARBARIANS. 

9. Division and rivalry of the Empires of the East and 
West. — In such a situation, the policy of the princes, from 
the death of Constantine, consisted in averting, with more or 
less skill, the danger of the moment, without being able to 
give even a thought to the future. The division of the 
empire had appeared to Theodosius, as well as to Constan- 
tine and to Diocletian, the only means of correcting internal 
evils and repelling external invasions, by an easier inspec- 
tion of the remote provinces and a more direct action of the 
supreme authority. But to accomplish this would have re- 
quii'ed two emperors, animated with the same spirit, acting 
in concert against the common enemy, and preserving peace 
and subordination in their own territories. 

This, however, was far from being the case. Instead of 
being friends, the two emperors were rivals : instead of sus- 
taining each other, each strove to obtain the control over his 
colleague ; laboring mutually to undermine and raise up 
enemies against the power on whose existence each depend- 
ed for the preservation of his own. In this deplorable task 
they were both equally successful ; and the result of their 
divisions was the general invasion, hastened by the policy of 
the Eastern Empire, and which was soon followed by the dis- 
memberment and rapid fall of the Empire of the West. 



§11. 

ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE BARBARIANS, BEFORE THE INVASION. 

SCYTHIANS AND TARTARS, SCLAVONIANS AND GERMANS. 

MANNERS OF THE BARBARIANS. 

10. General character of the Barhariaris. — On the bor- 
ders of these desolate provinces, in those vast countries, 
once almost a desert, a young, ardent and impatient popula- 



ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE BARBARIANS. 17 

tion stands ready to throw itself upon its unresisting prey. 
With them all is life, energy, movement, both in private life 
and in the public mind ; and at the aspect of those nations 
pressing and crowding upon one another, contending for the 
possession of a soil from which their own restless activity 
drives them away almost as soon as it is won ; of this strength 
nourished by incessant struggle, and this ambition irritated 
by partial success, it is easy to foretell that all things are 
wonderfully combined for a great work of destruction. 

1 1 . Scythian and Tartar races ; their manners. — Three 
powerful families of separate nations were again about to be 
mingled together, beyond the Roman frontier : the Scythians, 
the Ger7nans, and the Sclavonians.i.^) On the north of Per- 
sia and Arabia, the race which was known to the ancients as 
Scythian, and among which are classed the Tartar tribes, 
occupied the immense steppes of upper Asia and eastern 
Europe. There lived the Kalmucks or Moguls, the Mant- 
choos, the Turks, the Avars, the Huns or Hiongnous, the 
most terrible of them all. India was to become the spoil of 
the Moguls, China of the Mantchoos, Western Asia and a 
part of Europe of the Turks : the Huns, masters for a mo- 
ment of all these tribes (v. Roman History, ch. xxiii.) but 
soon driven back by them in turn, were destined to overrun 
all Europe like a desolating torrent, and then disappear, 
without leaving scarcely a trace in the world which they had 
laid waste. 

The Huns were the most savage of the barbarous tribes, 
and historians never speak of them without terror. Short 
and thick, disfigured by hideous sears, clad in skins coarsely 
stitched together, they lived upon roots and meat softened 
under their saddles, or the curdled milk of their mares. 
They led about numerous flocks wherever they went, and 

(1) For the Ethnography of the Barbarians, see Part II. of this work 
ch. i. book 11, containing the Geography of the Middle Ages. 



18 ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE BARBARIANS. 

transported their booty in wagons, which formed a sort of 
rolling city. They slept in the open air, and passed their 
lives on horseback : it was on horseback that they ate, that 
they held council, that they made war, and leaning upon the 
necks of their steeds, caught an uncertain sleep, while dream- 
ing of the morrow's battle. They charged their enemy with 
frightful cries, came upon him unawares, dispersed in an in- 
stant, returned again to the charge, throwing their javelins 
with unerring skill, and dragging their prisoners after them 
with a noose, that they were trained to throw with the same 
fatal precision with which the South American of our own 
days hurls his lasso. 

The Huns worshipped the sun and a naked sword 
planted in the ground. They had neither laws nor religious 
dogmas. Their children, born in the wagons in which their 
women passed their lives, were formed early to the chase, 
and only acknowledged to be of age when they had killed an 
enemy with their own hands. Their prisoners were sacri- 
ficed to the shades of their ancestors ; the warriors collected 
the skulls of their enemies, and in battle tied them to the 
flanks of their horses. 

12. The Sclavonians. — The manners of the Sclavonians, on 
the other hand, who occupied the whole of northern Europe 
fi'om Germany to the Volga, were comparatively mild and 
gentle. They tilled the ground, fed large flocks, and hunted 
the abundant game which peopled their forests. Their fam- 
ilies were remarkable for the union which prevailed in them ; 
stealing was unknown among them : the Sclavonian, on quit- 
ting his dwelling, left the door open and a meal ready 
dressed for the traveller : strangers were received with honor, 
and the poor man could take from the rich whatever he 
needed for the entertainment of his guest. Their prisoners 
were generally treated with humanity, and allowed the privi- 
lege of ransom. 



ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE BARBARIANS. 19 

The Sclavonians adored a great number of divinities, 
whose worship they celebrated by dances, public games and 
patriotic songs ; and in these solemn festivities mead and 
milk were served with profusion. It was only when under 
the influence of superstition that the Sclavonians were cruel. 
Human blood was mingled with the blood of animals upon 
the altars of their gods : wives were sacrificed to the shades 
of their husbands, and the hatred of the priests of their idols 
was soon to prepare frightful tortures for the missionaries of 
Christianity. Bound by their sedentary habits to the soil of 
their birth, the greater portion of this race took no part in 
that great movement of people which ended with the fifth 
century. It was only after the invasion that they appeared 
in turn in the deserted provinces. 

The Sclavonians were divided into three great nations. 
The Venedi, near the Baltic ; the Ants, on the banks of the 
Don ; the Sclavonians proper, near the Danube. At a later 
period they were divided into a great number of tribes. All 
of these people, subjected for a moment by the great king 
Hermanric to the dominion of the Goths, recovered their in- 
dependence after the division and destruction of the empire 
of the Goths by the invasion of the Huns (v. Roman His- 
tory). 

The Bulgarians and Alani, though Sclavonian by origin, 
resembled the Scythians in their wandering habits and savage 
character. 

13. Germanic races. — On the west of Sclavonia, between 
the Ocean, the Vistula, the Theiss and the Rhine, were those 
German tribes which had long been known to the Romans. 
The Allemanni and Franks, composed of the reunion of sev- 
eral smaller tribes, were scattered near the borders of the 
Rhine, on its left bank when victorious, on the right when van- 
quished, but still with their arms in hand, and ever ready to 
seize the opportunity of invading Gaul. In the centre were 



20 ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE BARBARIANS. 

two powerful people, the Suevi and the Burgundians ; on the 
northeast, the Saxons ; the Angles and the Prisons on the 
shores of the Baltic and opposite to the coast of Great Britain ; 
in the north and in the east the Lombards, the most ferocious 
of all the Germanic tribes, the Gepidi, the Vandals, and the 
Heruli, already yielding before the pressure of the Goths, 
themselves of Germanic origin, and who occupied all the 
eastern portions of Germany and several Sclavonian provinces. 
'At the end of the fourth century, the Ostrogoths (eastern 
Goths) had submitted to the transient dominion of the Huns, 
while the Visigoths (western Goths) had sought an asylum 
in the empire. 

14. Manners and customs of the Germans. — The man- 
ners of the Germans have been admirably described by Ta- 
citus, whose indignation at the corruption of his fellow-citi- 
zens led him, perhaps, to render a somewhat exaggerated 
homage to the purity of manners and the energy and simpli- 
city of the institutions of the Barbarians. Passionate lovers 
of independence, the German tribe never confined itself 
within the limits of a province : beauty of situation, rich 
pasturage, decide their transient residence. The palace of 
the chief is a simple hut ; a ditch is the rampart, with 
which they guard against their enemies. Their lives are 
divided between hunting and war ; the cares of agriculture 
and their flocks are left to women and slaves, while they 
go to meet their enemy ; it is sloth and cowardice, in their 
eyes, to win by sweat what can be won by blood. The 
severity of their manners guarded marriage with inviolable 
respect. Women brought no dower; but on the wedding- 
day, they received a present of a pair of oxen, as a symbol 
of the labor to which they were destined, and a horse and 
arms, to remind them that it was their duty to inspire their 
children with courage and patriotism. The food of the 
Germans was, in general, simple and frugal ; at their re- 



ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE BARBARIANS. 21 

pasts, they discussed public affairs, while their young men 
executed, near them, dangerous dances between lances and 
swords. No people ever observed the duties of hospitality 
more religiously ; the traveller was received with joy, fed 
by his host, who also served him as guide, and never let him 
go away without some gift. 

With these primitive virtues, the Germans mingled the 
vices of a nature still coarse and savage. Families were 
divided by the fiercest hatred when the offended one had re- 
fused to accept the pecuniary reparation which, according to 
the custom of the country, had been offered by the offender. 
The solemn festivals, on which the chief collected his war- 
riors around him, were wild revels, debased by disgusting in- 
temperance, and ending, almost always, in bloody quarrels. 
In their moments of repose, they engaged with a species of 
fury in games of chance : often hazarding their whole for- 
tune upon the turn of a die ; and when all was lost, their 
flocks, their horse, and their arms, they would stake their 
wives, their children, and even their own freedom ; and 
warriors, young and vigorous, would suffer themselves to be 
bound and sold like slaves, to pay a debt of honor. 

15. Political and religious institutions. — The nation really 
comprised but two classes, freemen and slaves; and the lot 
of the latter was much less rigorous, among the Germans, 
than among the Romans. Strictly speaking, there was no 
aristocracy, no hereditary nobility : the warriors who had 
distinguished themselves in battle, and grown rich with the 
spoils of the enemy, were surrounded by distinctions and 
honors. The freemen of their tribe gathered around them 
and chose them for their chiefs in war ; and sometimes the 
whole tribe intrusted them with the supreme command. 
But it was seldom that the monarchical form was permanent- 
ly established among them. These personal privileges never 
became the legal prerogative of a family. The chiefs 



22 ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE BARBARIANS. 

were consulted upon ordinary affairs ; but great questions 
were always referred to the assembly of the whole nation, 
where the freemen came on horseback, armed, and each 
with an equal right in debate, and no other influence but 
that of eloquence and glory. 

A priest presided over the assembly ; these fierce Ger- 
mans acknowledged no supremacy but that of religion. 
Some old man opened the meeting, and the murmurs of the 
multitude, or the clashing of their arms, was the signal 
that his counsel had been rejected or received. 

It was in these assemblies that peace or war was de- 
cided. If an expedition was resolved upon, all the freemen 
were mustered, and set out, under the guidance of the 
bravest. They shared the fatigues, the dangers, the good or 
bad fortune of their chief, and the joy of his feasts, and the 
spoils of the enemy after victory ; but if the chief fell in 
battle, it was dishonor for his companions to survive him. 
The arms of the Germans were a buckler and the framea, 
a short, pointed lance, to fight close at hand or at a dis- 
tance, and sometimes a battle-axe and club. The strength of 
the army was in the cavalry ; the foot-soldiers mingled 
with the horsemen, were taught to cling to the manes of 
their horses, follow them at full speed, and fight in their 
ranks. The women accompanied the army in general wars, 
dressed the wounds of the wounded, brought back the fugi- 
tives to the charge, and were more than once seen to po- 
niard the cowardly with their own hands, and after a defeat 
throw themselves under the wheels of their wagons, rather 
than survive their husbands' disgrace. 

The religion of the Germans was sombre and mysteri- 
ous. They worshipped the divinity in the depths of forests. 
The sun, and fire, were the symbols which they venerated 
most ; they looked upon the earth (Dertha) as their mother, 
and offered bloody sacrifices in the isle of Rugen, the dread- 



INVASION OF THE BARBARIANS. 23 

ed sanctuary of the goddess ; every year, beautiful young 
girls were led to the bank of a sacred lake, and never seen 
again. The Germans believed in the immortality of the 
soul ; and to the brave, who died in battle, were promised 
the infinite joys of the Walhalla, where warriors were to cut 
one another to pieces during the day, and at night sit down 
together, young and full of life, to the eternal banquet. 



§ III. 

INVASION OF THE BARBARIANS IN THE TWO EBIPIRES. 

16. Double aspect of the invasion of the Barbarians. — The 
invasion of the empire by all these tribes of Barbarians pre- 
sents two distinct phases : one slow and successive, the other 
sudden and rapid ; the first destined to perform the work of 
insensible disorganization, the second to overturn by a sud- 
den blow. For more than a century, the tribes nearest to 
the empire had penetrated, one by one, into its territories ; 
but subdued by civilization, they had been aggregated in a 
certain measure to the society around them, subjected to its 
influence even while they transformed its elements, and ended 
at last by substituting their own authority to that of the em- 
peror, without making any great modification in a system to 
which they had gradually adapted their own. Thus under 
the dominion of the Goths, who were for a long time in im- 
mediate relations with the empire, the Roman traditions are 
preserved in Italy and Southern Gaul. But other tribes, 
beyond the contact of Roman civilization, brought suddenly 
to the frontiers of the empire in the course of their wild ex- 
peditions, or by the reaction of distant revolutions, and eager 
only for destruction and pillage, come next, with a frightful 
shock, which threatens all the vestiges of ancient society 
with annihilation. 



24 INVASION OF THE BARBARIANS. 

Against such enemies, who inundate all her provinces at 
the same moment, the weakened and divided empire cannot 
long sustain the unequal contest. 

17. Accession of Arcadius in the East and Honorius in 
the West. — The inheritance of Theodosius, the last of the 
Roman emperors, was divided between his two sons (395). 
Arcadius had the East, comprising the two prefectures of the 
East and Illyria, that is, Egypt, the whole of Asia, Thrace, 
Moesia, Dacia, and all Greece. In the West, Honorius 
reigned over the two prefectures of Italy and Gaul, com- 
posed of Illyria proper, Pannonia, Norica, Rhetia, Italy, Af- 
rica, Spain, Gaul, and Great Britain. Arcadius resided at 
Constantinople, and Honorius at Milan, although Rome still 
preserved its title of Metropolis. The West was administered 
by the Vandal Stilicho, whom Theodosius had appointed 
guardian of the two brothers. The Gaul Rufinus governed 
the East for Arcadius (v. ch. v.). 

18. First invasion of Alaric. — The military talents and 
exploits of Stilicho alarmed the low jealousy o^ Rufinus, who, 
to stir up enemies against his rival, called in the Barbarians 
to ravage the provinces. Alaric, chief of the Visigoths who 
were established in Dacia, hastened to obey the summons. 
He invaded and plundered Greece, but escaped with difficul- 
ty from Stilicho, who had come to the defence of the Pelo- 
ponnesus. Arcadius, after having declared Stilicho enemy 
of the Eastern empire, made peace with the Goth, and gave 
him lands in Illyria, with the title of Master of the Troops 
(400). Alaric caused himself to be proclaimed king of the 
Visigoths, augmented his forces at the expense of the Eastern 
empire, which the blind Arcadius had placed at his disposal, 
equipped his soldiers with the arms of the arsenals of the 
East, and crossed the Alps to invade Italy. The peninsula, 
without regular armies, and incapable of defending itself^ lay 
open to the invader, while Stilicho went to seek on the fron- 



INVASION OF THE BARBARIANS. 25 

tiers the troops wliich Italy could not supply. Frightful 
devastations marked the passage of the Goths, until Stilicho 
reappeared to deliver Honorius, who was besieged in Asti, 
and save the empire (402). Alaric, after three defeats and 
the loss of his army, returned into Illyria. Honorius cele- 
brated the total destruction of the Gothic nation by magnificent 
games, in which gladiators appeared for the last time in the 
arena. A monk named Telemachus threw himself between 
the combatants, and tried to separate them. The spectators, 
intoxicated with the sight of blood, fell upon him and killed 
him. But the indignant emperor abolished the odious spec- 
tacle by a solemn decree, and the repentant people honored 
as a saint the martyr of humanity. Notwithstanding the ex- 
citement of his triumph, Honorius hastened to quit Milan and 
establish his residence at Ravenna, where the lagunes afford- 
ed a sure protection against sudden attack (403). 

19. General invasion. — Alaric had given the signal to the 
Barbarians. Scarcely had he quit Italy, when the Suevi 
broke up from Germany and descended towards the Alps. 
For a second time the peninsula was a prey to the desolating 
scourge ; but Stilicho was on the watch. By vigorous efforts 
he succeeded in creating an army, promising freedom and 
two pieces of gold to every slave that would take up arms 
(406). Rhadogast, chief of the Barbarians, was repulsed 
from the walls of Florence, to which he had laid siege, and 
surrounded and killed on the arid heights of Fiesoli ; his horde 
was sold in the slave market. 

Till then Italy alone had been attacked ; but now all the 
West was upon the point of being assailed, at the very mo- 
ment in which the death of Stilicho, assassinated by order of 
the cowardly Honorius, deprived the empire of its only pro- 
tector. The Suevi, who had been exterminated with Rha- 
dogast, were but the advanced guard of an innumerable army, 
composed of the remainder of the Suevi, of the Vandals, the 

2 



26 INVASION OF THE BARBARIANS. 

Alans, and the Burgundians. At the news of Rhadogast's 
disaster, they turned their steps towards Gaul, crushed in 
their passage the Ripuarian Franks, who had dared to meet 
the first shock (407), and spread like an inundation over all 
Gaul, leaving ruin and destruction behind them (v. History 
of France). The Burgundian tribes established themselves 
between the Rhone and the Saone ; the others passed into 
Spain, which they ravaged even more fearfully than Gaul. 

Shortly afterwards, the Franks, one of whose colonies on 
the Rhine had vainly tried to check the invasion, went to take 
their part also in the conquest of Gaul (v. ch. iv. § 1). 

The centre of the country, which amid these revolutions 
still remained Roman, had not returned to Honorius. 

20. New invasion and death of Alaric. — Constantine, chief 
of the legions of Britain, who had helped drain off the wave 
of invasion, was proclaimed emperor in Gaul, and charged 
the general Gerontius with the conquest of Spain. Honorius 
was compelled to recognize him, for Alaric had once more 
invaded Italy (409). 

Stilicho's enemies had been promised that the auxiliary 
Goths should be massacred. Thirty thousand of them, who 
escaped from this bloody execution, took refuge with Alaric, 
who hastened into Italy to avenge them. Some one is urging 
me on, said the Barbarian, and impelling me to sack Rome. 
From the first siege Rome was redeemed by gold ; after a 
second siege, Alaric invested the prefect Attalus with the 
purple, but deposed him again the moment that he began to act 
independently ; and Honorius still refusing to fulfil the con- 
ditions which he had sworn to accept, siege was laid for the 
third time to the Eternal City, which was assaulted, taken, and 
sacked, with frightful devastation (410). The churches, how- 
ever, were spared, and in these the population found a secure 
asylum ; for the beneficent influence of Christianity began 
already to be felt. It had made its way among the Goths on 



INVASION OF THE BARBARIANS. 27 

their first entrance into the empire, and having penetrated 
also to the greater part of the Barbarians before the great 
invasion, served on more than one occasion to soften the 
horrors of these disastrous times. 

In all the Western Empire scarcely any thing M^as left to 
Honorius but the lagoons of Ravenna. However, Alaric 
did not survive his triumph long. He died at Cosenza, and 
his companions, to secure for his ashes an inviolable tomb, 
drained the waters of the river, and having buried him in its 
channel, slew the slaves by whom his grave had been dug, 
that no man might know where he lay. 

21. Foundation of the kingdom of the Visigoths in the 
south of Gaul and in Spain. — His death (411) gave Honorius 
a breathing space, and by abandoning several provinces he 
was enabled to save a few. The Roman Constantius, who 
had replaced Stilicho, conquered Gerontius, who was at war 
with Constantine, and reduced him to such extremity that, he 
killed himself ; and finally made Constantine himself prison- 
er, and sent him to Honorius, who put him to death. The 
Visigoths ceased to be the enemies of the empire. Adol- 
phus, Alaric's successor, had at first proposed to raise the 
empire of the Goths on the ruins of the empire of Rome ; but 
he soon became convinced that his undisciplined subjects 
would never submit to regular laws, and changing his policy, 
he asked the hand of Placidia, Honorius's sister, became his 
brother-in-law's protector, and overthrew the two pretenders, 
lovinius and Sebastianus, who with the protection of the 
Burgundians had assumed the purple in Gaul. Magnificent 
festivals had celebrated this alliance of the Romans and the 
Barbarians, and the Christians repeated joyfully the words 
of the prophet Daniel, " The daughter of the king of the 
South shall one day be united to the son of the king of the 
North." 

As for the Barbarians established in the empire, as Hono- 



28 DESTRUCTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 

rius had no means of driving them away, he was compelled 
to recognize them. He confirmed the Burgundians, the mild- 
est and most peaceable of the northern tribes, in the posses- 
sion of Helvetia (413). To remove the Visigoths from Gaul, 
and oppose them to the Barbarians in Spain, he offered them 
settlements beyond the Pyrenees. Adolphus advanced as far 
as the Ebro, and was assassinated at Barcelona. His suc- 
cessor, Wallia, subjected the Alans, drove the Vandals who 
occupied Andalusia ( Vandalusia) into the south, and the Suevi 
into Gallicia, where they were not destined to preserve their 
independence long. In reward for his services, Wallia ob- 
tained from Honorius all the south of Gaul as far as the 
Garonne, and founded the kingdom of the Visigoths, with 
Toulouse for its capital. 

Honorius retained the provinces which were not comprised 
in the three kingdoms of the Barbarians. He rewarded Con- 
stantius with the title of Augustus and the hand of his sister, 
the widow of Adolphus. But the dismemberment could no 
longer be prevented, and the tottering fragments which still 
bore the name of Empire of the East were about to crumble 
in their tui'n. 



§ IV. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 

32. Valeniinian III. — Rivalry of Aetius and Boniface. — 
The Vandals in Africa. — Honorius died in 424 ; Valeniinian 
III., son of Constantius and Placidia, succeeded him on the 
throne, after the usurpation of the secretary John, emperor 
of a day, who, however, signalized his reign by a memorable 
edict abolishing slavery. Placidia, once more a widow, 
reigned in her son's name, and another female, Pulcheria, 



DESTRUCTION OF THE "WESTERN EMPIRE. 29 

governed the East during the minority of her brother, Theo- 
dosius II. The two empires enjoyed a moment of repose ; but 
the mutual enmity of the generals of Placidia, Aetius and Bo- 
niface, cost the empire another province. Aetius, conqueror 
of the Frank Chlodian (428), of the Burgundians, and of the 
Visigoths, could not bear the ascendency which Boniface had 
gained over the regent. The latter, deposed at the instigation 
of his rival, revolted in his province of Africa, and called the 
Vandals with their king Genseric to his assistance. His tardy 
repentance, awakened by the remonstrances of St. Augustin, 
did not come in time to repair his fault. The independent tribes 
of Africa and the Donatists, fanatics of the most obstinate 
caste, united with the enemies of the Roman power. Hippo, 
vainly defended against the attacks of the Vandals, opened 
its gates after a siege of fourteen months, in the third of which 
its illustrious bishop, the eloquent Augustin, had died. Boni- 
face escaped over sea, and Valentinian was compelled to 
yield Genseric a part of Africa by treaty (435). Four years 
afterwards the Vandals surprised Carthage ; all Africa was 
lost to the Romans, and the city of Dido again became the 
capital of a kingdom. She soon too saw Rome at her feet, 
and decked herself with the spoils of her haughty rival. 
Genseric subjected all the great islands of the Mediterranean, 
Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic isles ; he rendered 
his capital as powerful as of old by her navy, and built a 
large number of ships, with which he cruised in every di- 
rection and plundered every coast ; " urged on," said he, 
" against those wliom God wishes to punish." 

23. Invasion of Attila, king of the Huns. — A Barbarian 
equally redoubtable with Genseric held the northern provinces 
of the two empires in terror. Attila, who called himself the 
hammer of the universe and the scourge of God, had subjected 
to the empire of the Huns all the Sclavonic tribes, and among 
the Germans the Heruli, the Marcomanni, the Gepidi, the Os- 



30 DESTRUCTION OF THE "WESTERN EMPIRE. 

trogoths, and the Suevi. The assassination of his brother had 
made him sole chief of his terrible nation. His sceptre was 
the sword Deman, which had been found by a shepherd in the 
midst of a desert, and the possession of which presaged the em- 
pire of the world. A message of Genseric decided him to attack 
the East. All the countries near the Danube were devastated 
with fire and sword. Theodosius II. bought peace at the 
price of an enormous tribute of two thousand pounds of gold ; 
and his ambassadors, admitted to the table of Attila, but placed 
in the lowest seats, saw the haughty conqueror eat in wooden 
dishes, while his attendants were served in plates of gold and 
silver, the spoil of their enemies. Attila found a worthier 
adversary in Marcian, the successor of Theodosius ; / have 
gold for my friends, and steel for my enemies, was his reply 
when the Barbarian demanded the payment of his tribute. 
The king of the Huns avoided the contest, and turned his 
steps towards the West, where he demanded the hand of Va- 
lentinian's sister, the princess Honoria, who had by a recent 
message invited Attila to claim her as his bride. Gaul was 
again laid waste. The prayers of St. Genevieve saved 
Paris ; and the valor of Arianus, bishop of Orleans, held 
Attila in check before the walls of the city which he had 
doomed to destruction. Aetius came to the succor of the be- 
sieged at the moment in which they were upon the point of 
giving themselves up for lost, and his army, united with that 
of the Visigoths, the Franks, and the Burgundians, overtook 
the Huns near Chalons sur Marne (451). Theodoric II., 
king of the Visigoths, was killed in this horrible shock of 
Barbarian arms ; but the victory fell to his allies. Attila, 
pursued to his intrenchments by the son of Theodoric, had 
already built himself a funeral pile with the saddles of his 
horses, and was prepared to kill himself upon it rather than 
fall into the hands of his enemies. But Aetius, fearing too 
great an increase of the power of the Visigoths, withheld 



DESTRUCTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 31 

them from a final attack, and suffered Attila to regain the 
frontiers without being pursued ('). Gaul was delivered ; 
but the scourge fell upon Italy ; Attila razed Aquileja, and 
ravaged all the north of the Peninsula ; the inhabitants of 
Venetia took refuge in the lagoons of the Adriatic, where 
they laid the foundations of Venice ; and the fierce conqueror 
was preparing to march upon Rome, when he was met by a 
solemn embassy of the Senate. The majestic aspect of Pope 
Leo the Great, who had come with the ambassadors, and who 
presented himself in the imposing array of his pontifical 
robes, with a rich ransom under title of the dowry of the Prin- 
cess Honoria, and more than all, perhaps, the superstitious ter- 
ror with which he reflected on the fate of Alaric, whose death 
had followed so close on the sack of the imperial city, moved 
the Barbarian's mind, and led him to grant peace to the trem- 
bling Romans. He abandoned Italy, and died the next year 
(453). The power of the Huns did not survive him long. 
The great empire of the Barbarians was torn in pieces by 
the children of its founder. 

24. Sack of Rome iy Genseric. — But Attila's rival, Gen- 
seric, was prepared to accomplish his work, at the moment 
when the empire lost its only defender. When Attila's sword 
was broken, Valentinian drawing his own for the first time, 
plunged it into the heart of the last of the Romans : jealous 
of Aetius, he killed the man who had so long retarded the 
fall of the empire. Next year Valentinian was put to death 
by the senator Petronius Maximus, who seized upon the throne, 
and the emperor's widow called in the Vandals to punish the 
assassin and the usurper (455). Rome was taken and sacked 

(1) Timens ne Hunnis funditus 

Tnteremptis, a Gothis Romanorum 
Premeretur imperium. — Jornandes. 

Such was the invariable policy of the empire during its decline. 



32 DESTRUCTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 

a second time by the Barbarians. Genseric loaded his 
ships with the statues of the capitol, the fragments of the 
golden ceiling which had cost Domitian seventy millions, and 
the ornaments of the temple of Jerusalem which had adorned 
the triumph of Titus. A part of the inhabitants, with the 
empress Eudoxia and her two daughters, was led captive to 
Carthage. 

25. Injluence of the Suevi Ricimer. — The Barbarians con- 
tinue to hold possession of the provinces, while their brethren 
press on them from without. Under this double pressure the 
death-struggle of the empire is protracted for a quarter of a 
century. After the death of Maximus, the rhetorician Avitus 
is proclaimed, and then assassinated by the Suevian Ricimer, 
whom he had put at the head of the Barbarian allies, and 
who assumed the right of disposing of the empire. Majo- 
rian, to whom he gave the purple (457), believed himself ca- 
pable of exercising the imperial power, restoring the honor 
of the Roman name, and making it once more dreadful to 
her enemies. He restored some regularity to the administra- 
tion, by reorganizing the collection of the revenues, by liber- 
ating the municipal magistrates from their burthensome respon- 
sibility, and re-establishing the ancient and useful office of 
defenders of the city. He had already equipped a fleet, too, 
and was prepared to carry war to the heart of the empire of 
the Vandals. But Ricimer, dreading the loss of his own 
authority, excited a conspiracy against the virtuous emperor, 
and treacherously defeated his generous plans. Three ob- 
scure emperors, Severus III., Anihemius, and Olyhius (461 
— 472), rise and fall at the voice of the Barbarian. 

26. Last emperors. — Fall of the Western Empire. — At 
length, after the death of Ricimer (472), the patrician Orestes, 
successor of Glycerins and Julius Nepos, invests with the 
purple his son Romulus Augustulus, as if to close the imperial 
line with a name which should recall at the same time the 



DESTRUCTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 33 

founder of Rome and the foundei' of the empire (476). 
Orestes is so imprudent as to excite the discontent of the Bar- 
barian allies, by refusing the distribution of lands which they 
demanded. They revolt, with the Herulian Odoacer, who 
had ah-eady been raised to the first grades of the army j 
Orestes is massacred, and his son banished. From that time 
Rome had no more emperors. 

The Western Empire, so long undermined, fell without a 
shock. Italy was governed by a king, instead of an empe- 
ror. The Barbarians assumed the insignia of a power of 
which they had long possessed the reality. Odoacer was the 
first that reigned in Italy, and the emperor of the East, to 
preserve at least a nominal supremacy, gave him the title of 
patrician (476). 



2* 



CHAPTER II. 



GOTHS AND LOMBAEDS. 



SUMMARY. 



§ I. Theodoric overthrows Odoacer. — His conquests and military 
triumphs. — He governs the Visigoths. — His skilful administration. — 
Heligious and political toleration. — Favors granted to the conquered. — 
Respect for all the Roman customs — His efforts to unite the two peo- 
ple. — Distinctions which he makes between them. — Protection granted 
to letters, arts, and agriculture. — Cassiodorus, a minister worthy of The- 
odoric. — End of the reign of this prince. — His cruelties and death. — 
Amalasontha and Athalaric. — Theodatus assassinates Amalasontha. — 
Relisarius in Italy. — Totila. — Fruitless efforts of Belisarius deprived 
of support. — Narses in Italy. — Destruction of the empire of the Ostro- 
goths. 

§ n. Progress of the Visigoths in the south of Gaul and in Spain. — 
Wallia.— Theodoric II.— Euric— Alaric II. killed by Clovis.— The Visi- 
goths confined to Spain. — Contest between the Franks and' Visigoths. — 
Justinian retakes a part of Spain. — Success of the Visigoths against the 
Suevi under Leovegild. — Their conversion to Catholicism. — The Greeks 
driven from the Peninsula. — Suintila king of all Spain. — Decay of the 
kingdom of the Visigoths. — Excessive power of the clergy. — Internal - 
dissensions. — Attacks of the Saracens. — Battle of Xeres. — Fall of the 
Gothic monarchy. 

§ III. Causes of the rapid fall of the kingdoms founded by the Goths. 
— Religious and political obstacles to the fusion of the conquerors and 
conquered in one nation. — Causes of the instability of the government. 



HISTORY OF THE OSTROGOTHS IN ITALY. 35 

§ IV. The Lombards called into Italy by Narses. — Alboin. — Troubles 
at his death. — Reigns of Autharis, of Agilulphus and Theodelinda, and 
of Rotharis. — New internal dissensions. — Luitprand. — Final progress of 
the Lombard power. — Contest with the Franks. — Fall of the kingdom 
of the Lombards. 



§1. 



HISTORY OF THE OSTROGOTHS IN ITALY. THEODORIC. CAS- 

SIODORUS. 

27. Conquest of Italy ly Theodoric. — It was easier to 
conquer Italy than to keep it. The Herulian had hardly be- 
gun to confirm his dominion, by allying himself with the Visi- 
goths and the Vandals, when he saw a terrible competitor 
rise against him. The Ostrogoths, shut up in a corner of II- 
lyria, and wearied with an unwonted idleness, were begin- 
ning to grow restless, and waited nothing but a leader to rush 
on to war and plunder. The emperor Zeno sent them a son 
of their king Theodosius, whom he had brought up at Con- 
stantinople, adopted as his son by the adoption of arms, and 
raised to the first dignities of the empire. To him he dele- 
gated his rights over Italy, which he charged him to wrest 
from the hands of the Heruli ; hoping that while he conquer- 
ed his enemy with the arms of the young warrior, the Barba- 
rians would mutually waste their strength in wars against 
each other. 

Theodoric set forth, clad in the sacred veil, the emblem 
of his investiture, proclaiming himself the servant, the slave 
of Zeno (Jornandes), These vain demonstrations concealed 
the designs of a vast and audacious ambition. The chief of 
a powerful nation of Barbarians could not long remain the 
docile instrument of the feeble emperor of the East. The 
whole nation of the Ostrogoths marched under his orders. 



36 HISTORY OF THE OSTROGOTHS IN ITALY. 

They crossed the Julian Alps rapidly (489), defeated Odoa- 
cer three times, and compelled him to take refuge behind the 
walls of Ravenna. After a siege of two years, the Goths 
and the Heruli, equally tired of the war, signed a treaty 
which left Odoacer half the command. Theodoric stabbed 
him in the midst of a banquet, and reigned alone (493). 

28. Development of the power of Theodoric. — Brave as 
a Barbarian chief, skilful as a disciple of the Greeks, Theo- 
doric had all the qualities which make a great king : military 
talents to conquer, political talents to organize his conquests. 
Having subdued Italy, he fortified all the avenues to it : Illy- 
ria, Rhetia, Pannonia, Noricum, were occupied, in order to 
close all the passages on the north. The remnants of the He- 
ruli were confined to the foot of the mountains, to serve as 
ramparts for the peninsula, and held in dependence by seve- 
ral Gothic chiefs, who were encamped on the chain of the 
Alps. The coasts of the Adriatic, infested by Greek pirates, 
were protected by a fleet of a thousand light ships, a navy 
created by Theodoric himself. Dreaded by the emperor of 
the East, whom he still continued to treat with politic respect, 
and by the nations of the West, whose invasions he checked, 
he proclaimed himself the protector of all the people of his 
race. Though too late to save his son-in-law Alaric II., 
king of the Visigoths (v. Hist, of France), he defeated the vic- 
torious army of Clovis, established his authority in the south 
of Gaul, and declared himself the guai'dian of Am alaric, 
Alaric's successor (511). He took the direction of the 
government of Spain, as he had done that of Italy ; appoint- 
ed the magistrates, directed the administration, regulated the 
affairs of the state, and became the sovereign of all the 
Gothic tribes ; while the chiefs of the Vandals, the Burgun- 
dians, and the Thuringians sought alliance with his family 
or courted his friendship. 

29. Skilful administration. — Policy towards the vanquish- 



HISTORY OF THE OSTROGOTHS IN ITALY. 37 

ed. — He proved himself worthy of his extensive power, by 
the wisdom of his administration in Italy. The world saw 
with admiration a Barbarian and a conquei'or occupied only in 
effacing the traces of invasion, and securing the concord, the 
pi'osperity, and the civilization of his states. Though an 
Arian, he respected the privileges of the clergy, protected 
the catholic religion, which was professed by the Romans, 
and permitted the celebration of its solemnities. " We have 
no empire," said he, "over religion; for no man can compel 
belief" As tolerant in politics as in religion, he placed the 
conquered, in appearance at least, on an equality with 
their conquerors. His whole aim seemed to be to make 
one nation of them ; wishing that " the Goths might love the 
Romans as neighbors and brothers, and the Romans cherish 
the Goths as their protectors." While in other countries 
the conquerors preserved a privileged legislation, in Italy the 
law was the same for the Goths and the Romans, and that 
law was the Roman law slightly modified. Taxation fell 
equally upon both. The old system of administration was 
preserved with scarcely a change. The senate was held in 
honor ; civil magistracies and dignities resumed their places, 
and were mostly intrusted to Romans. Theodoi'ic's secretary 
and minister was the Italian Cassiodorus, whose talents Odo- 
acer had already discovered and employed, and who, by his 
learning, his activity, and his wisdom, seconded the genius 
of his new master worthily, and established his claim to a 
share in the glory of this illustrious reign. 

Theodoric's court became wholly Roman ; he adopted 
the imperial ornaments, and when the Romans saw him 
enter Rome with the pomp of a Roman triumph, and I'enew 
the distributions of the Forum and the games of the Circus, 
they forgot that they were slaves. 

Theodoric, to reward his soldiers, made a distribution of 
lands ; but of the lands which Odoacer had already taken 



38 HISTORY OF THE OSTEOGOTHS IN ITALY. 

fi'DiTi their owners. At the same time he denounced severe 
punishment against the Goth that should dare to usurp the 
inheritance of liis neighbor, or carry off his harvest or his 
flocks. A severe police maintained harmony between the 
old inhabitants and their new guests. 

30. Protection of literature and the arts. — End of Theo- 
doric's reign. — With all these concessions to secure the affec- 
tion, as well as the obedience, of the vanquished, the policy 
of the Barbarian still left a deeply rooted distinction between 
the two people, although it was veiled skilfully. The Goth 
alone had a right to wear arms : he was trained in military 
exercises in the gymnasiums : letters and arts were not made 
for this warlike race, which perhaps they would only have 
enervated. The Roman was not allowed to carry arms ; but 
the schools, the academies, and the libraries, which were shut 
to the Goth, were open to him ; and Theodoric favored with all 
his power the development of these peaceful arts, which shed 
their splendor over his reign, while they assured the tran- 
quillity of his dominion. Ancient monuments were repaired 
with zeal, if not with taste. The Goths themselves tried 
their hands at architecture, and Theodoric had a magnificent 
palace built at Verona. Cassiodorus, a new Mecenas, calls 
to court all the men eminent for their learning : Symmachus 
and Eunodius, Jornandes the historian, and the philosopher 
Boethius, so eminent for his piety and elevation of mind, who 
preserved the sound traditions of ancient literature, while he 
opposed vigorously every doctrine inconsistent with purity 
of faith. 

At the same time industry and agx'iculture received a 
new development. The Pontine marshes and the marshes 
of Spoleto were drained, and Italy for the first time began to 
live by her own products. Commerce alone was neglected, 
as was but too natural for a nation long accustomed to have 
no I'elations with its neighbors but those of war and pillage. 



HISTORY OF THE OSTKOGOTHS IN ITALY. 39 

Unfortunately, the end of Theodoric's reign did not cor- 
respond to its brilliant maturity, and seemed to foreshadow 
the close of this happy period. Wearied perhaps with the 
cares of government, irritated at not finding in others the 
same religious tolerance which he had professed and prac- 
tised, and anxious too about the fate of the empire which he 
had built up so laboriously, he became suspicious and cruel. 
He threw into irons pope John, who had refused to intercede 
for the Arians, persecuted by the emperor of the East, and 
punished a doubtful conspiracy by putting to death Boethius, 
and Symmachus, his father-in-law, in frightful tortures. 
Soon after, pursued, it was said, by the bloody shades of his 
victims, he died a prey to remorse (526). 

31. Theodoric^s successors. — Exploits of Belisarius. — Af- 
ter Theodoric, the two Gothic kingdoms were again divided, 
and that of the Ostrogoths soon fell to decay. It was in 
vain that Amalasontha, worthy daughter of so illustrious a 
father, governed wisely and firmly during the minority of 
her son Athalaric ; and vainly did Cassiodorus unite his 
efforts with those of the queen, to preserve Theodoric's work 
entire. The independent spirit of the Goths was irritated 
by that Roman organization which Theodoric alone had the 
strength to impose upon them ; and they claimed the right 
of educating Athalaric in the customs of his ancestors. The 
young prince soon perished, a victim of debauchery. Ama- 
lasontha, hoping to preserve her power, after his death mar- 
ried her cousin Theodatus (534), whose love of literary 
retirement seemed to afford a sufficient assurance that he 
would leave her, as he had promised, in the full possession 
of her authority. This wretch had her assassinated, but did 
not enjoy the fruits of his crime long. Justinian, emperor 
of the East, seized this occasion to snatch Italy and Rome 
from the Barbarians, and declared himself the avenger of the 
daughter of Theodoric. His general, the famous Belisarius, 



40 HISTORY OF THE OSTROGOTHS IN ITALY. 

had only to show himself in order to get possession of Sicily 
and a great part of Italy. But Vitiges, who had been chosen 
to fill the place of Theodatus (536), whose cowardice and 
treachery had received their just reward, made a more seri- 
ous resistance. He retook Milan, where three hundred 
thousand men were massacred, and laid siege to Rome, 
which Belisarius had just taken. The city, though defended 
by scarcely five thousand men, was saved by prodigies of 
skill and valor, during a siege of fourteen months. From 
that time Belisarius regained the ascendant. The Franks, 
who at the call of both parties, had come to make war on 
both alike, were driven back by famine ; and Vitiges was 
soon after made prisoner at Ravenna, and carried to Constan- 
tinople to adorn the triumph of his conqueror (540). 

32. Destruction of tJie empire of the Ostrogoths, — No sooner 
had Belisarius been recalled than the Goths raised their heads 
again under Ildebald, who reconquered northern Italy, and 
Totila (541), who defeated the Greeks at Faenza, and made 
himself master of the whole peninsula. The hero of the 
empire was sent to Italy a second time, but without the 
means which such an undertaking required, and which the 
jealousy of the court withheld. He saw Totila take Rome, 
without being able to- do any thing for its defence, and only 
succeeded in preserving it from total destruction, by an elo- 
quent appeal to the generosity or the prudence of the Barbari- 
an. " The founders of cities immortalize their names," wrote 
he to Totila ; " their destroyers dishonor themselves for ever. 
If you conquer me, you will have preserved the richest or- 
nament of your states : if fortune should turn against you, 
the preservation of Rome will plead your cause : the choice 
rests with you." Totila spared Rome, which Belisarius 
was soon after able to enter by surprise (546). But without 
resources, and indignant at the helpless state to which he 
was reduced, he asked to be recalled. The command was 



THE VISIGOTHS IN FRANCE AND SPAIN. 41 

given to the eunuch Narses, who landed in Italy with a large 
army of Barbarians in the pay of the empire. Totila was 
killed at the battle of Lentagio, which decided the war and 
the fate of Italy (552). The struggle continued still a year 
under Teias and Aligerii, supported by the hope of succor 
from the Franks. But a final defeat (553) compelled the 
remnant of the Goths to abandon Italy, which became again 
a province of the empire. 

The Franks, who came too late to assist the Goths, even 
if they had been disposed to do so, perished by the plague or 
by the arms of Narses, after having ravaged the peninsula 
(554). 



§11. 

HISTORY OF THE VISIGOTHS IN FRANCE AND SPAIN. 

33. Progress of the Visigoths in the south of France and 
in Spain. — While the empire of the Ostrogoths was crum- 
bling in Italy, that of the Visigoths in Spain had reached the 
summit of its grandeur ; from which, however, it was soon 
to decline. Originally established in the north of Spain and 
south of Gaul by Wallia, under the reign of Honorius, it 
had not remained long confined to its first limits. After the 
glorious death of Theodoric I. at the battle of Chalons, his 
son Thorrismond (451-452) had made himself master of a 
great portion of the western coast of Gaul. Under Theodo- 
ric II. (452-467) the Visigoths took Narbonne, and engaged 
in a contest with the Suevi beyond the Pyrenees. Euric 
(467-484), who was the first that gave written laws to his 
people, took possession of all Roman Spain, leaving the Suevi 
nothing but a corner of Gallicia. At the same time he en- 
larged his frontiers towards the centre of Gaul. Two trea- 



42 THE VISIGOTHS IN FRANCE AND SPAIN. 

ties with Julius Nepos and with Odoacer secured him Au- 
vergne and Provence. At the moment when the Western 
Empire fell, the dominion of Euric reached as far as the 
banks of the Loire. Alaric II. (484-507) continued Euric's 
work of civilization, and published a collection of laws ex- 
tracted from those of Rome, and known by the title of Bre- 
viariiim Alaricarium : but with his death, the prosperity of 
his kingdom ceased. The defeat of Vougle (v. Hist, of 
France), which cost him his life, cut off Aquitania from the 
kingdom of the Visigoths, who had nothing left in Gaul but 
the province of Septimania. 

34. Wars with the Franks and Greeks. — Subjection of all 
Spain. — The dominion of the Visigoths was re-established in 
the south of France, when the two Gothic kingdoms were 
united under the supremacy of the great Theodoric ; but the 
Franks, whose pride he had humbled, passed the Pyrenees 
in turn, under the reign of Amalaric (526-531), to punish 
this Arian king for his ill treatment of his Catholic wife. 
After Amalaric (551), their decline began : royalty became 
elective, and proved a source of disorder and civil war. 
Three princes perished in succession by a violent death. 
The Franks profited by these troubles to plunder the north- 
ern provinces of Spain, and the Visigoths were reduced to 
submit to receive the succor which Justinian offered to one 
of the competitors for the throne of Spain, in order to open 
for himself an occasion for intermeddling in the affairs of this 
country. All the eastern and southern portions fell into the 
hands of the Greeks, after a bloody contest, vainly kept up 
by king Athanagild (554-568). But those distant posses- 
sions could not long remain subject to the feeble sceptre of 
the emperor. Leovigild (569-586), victorious over his rivals, 
took Cordova from the Greeks, and compelled the Suevi, by 
the great battle of Broga, to accept his laws (585) : nearly 
all Spain was reduced under one dominion. 



THE VISIGOTHS IN FRANCE AND SPAIN. 43 

The Visigoths, like the greater part of the Barbarians, 
had till then been heretics: Eecarede (586-601), son of Le- 
ovegild, was converted to Catholicisnn, had Arianism con- 
demned in the council of Toledo, and thus won for himself 
the title of Catholic. This prince had recommended the old 
contests with the Franks ; his successor turned his arms 
against the Greeks, whom he followed up closely, and con- 
fined within constantly decreasing limits on the eastern coast. 
At length, taking advantage of the wars which kept the ar- 
mies of Heraclius occupied in the east, Suiniilla (621-631) 
drove the Greeks from the Peninsula, and became the first 
king of the whole of Spain. 

35. Internal divisions. — Fall of the Inngdom of the Visi- 
goths. — .The kingdom of the Visigoths continued to support 
itself for the greater part of another century, in the midst 
of internal dissensions. The powerful men of the nation 
contended together for the crown, and each new election re- 
newed the disorders. The clergy, the only body that was 
stable and powerful of itself, gained an immense ascendency 
and overtopped the royal power. Excessive rigor against 
the Jews and heretics showed that their zeal was more ar- 
dent than enlightened, and served to increase the troubles of 
the state. At the same time Spain was menaced by a new 
danger. The Arabs (v. ch. vii.), masters of northern Africa, 
push on their redoubtable battalions towards Europe. The 
fleet of king Egiza disperses their ships (696) : a fruitless 
victory. Mauritania, which had been conquered by King 
Sisebut in the beginning of the century, is reconquered by 
the Arabs. The dissensions of the nobles add to the dangers 
of the kingdom ; and soon after. Count Julian, defending the 
rights of the grandson of Egiza against the usurper Roderic, 
calls the Mussulman armies to his aid, and at the battle of 
Xeres overthrows the throne of Roderic and the kingdom of 
the Visigoths (710). 



44 RAPID FALL OF THE GOTHIC KINGDOMS. 



§ III. 

CAUSES OF THE RAPID FALL OP THE KINGDOMS FOUNDED BY 
THE GOTHS. 

36. Obstacles to the fusion of the Roman and Gothic races. 
— Difference of religion. — At the side of the kingdom of the 
Franks had arisen two states, founded by a people both more 
powerful and more numerous than they ; one of them more 
brilliant, the other possessing a richer and more extensive ter- 
ritory. Still the kingdom of the Franks has continued unin- 
terruptedly to our own times, while the kingdoms of the Goths 
were destroyed within less than three centuries after their 
birth. The other states founded by the Barbarians at the 
same epoch had already disappeared, or were soon to disap- 
pear. How shall we explain this difference in their destiny ? 
The kingdom of the Franks had received from its founda- 
tion a guarantee for its duration and stability which was 
wanting in all the others. 

The number of the Barbarians established in the coun- 
tries which they had invaded was necessarily small, in com- 
parison with that of the old inhabitants. To render their 
dominion solid, it was necessary either to subject or to incor- 
porate the conquered ; and the latter was in most cases the 
only thing that they could do. It was towards this that the 
most enlightened of the Barbarian kings directed their efforts, 
by intermingling the conquerors and the conquered, multi- 
plying the relations between them, and uniting their interests. 
But although habits, manners, and laws may be assimilated, 
there is a distinction which nothing but time can efface, and 
this is, difference of religion. Now the Franks who became 
Catholics shortly after their establishment in Gaul, were unit- 
ed to the Gallo-Romans by the strongest of all ties. The 



RAPID FALL OF THE GOTHIC KINGDOMS. 45 

Goths, heretics on their entrance into the empire, were sepa- 
rated by an insurmountable barrier from the Italians and the 
Spaniards whom they had subdued. 

It is thus that we must explain the failure of the efforts 
of the great Theodoric himself. 

This prince had tried, by combining two opposite systems, 
to fuse the two nations, while he preserved the preponderance 
for the Ostrogoths. But his unbounded tolerance could never 
do what the conversion of Clovis did. When the Frank king 
was baptized by the hand of a Catholic prelate, he won for 
his rising kingdom the support of the clergy, already so pow- 
erful in Gaul. It was the bishops, wearied with the dominion 
of the Arian Visigoths, who confirmed the power of the 
Franks to the south of the Loire. In Italy the bishops might 
become attached for a moment to Theodoric's person ; but 
they never devoted themselves to the interests of an heretical 
dynasty and empire. The Catholic Roman would have 
looked upon any alliance with an Arian Goth as a profana- 
tion. This difference of religion rendered marriages impos- 
sible ; and the intermixture of families is the only thing 
which can produce an intermixture of people. 

37. Political distinctions established hy Theodoric. — The 
desire of maintaining the supremacy of the Gothic race, con- 
tributed also to render all the measures which Theodoric 
took to establish unity in his states ineffectual. The separa- 
tion of the youth, brought up in different gymnasiums for a 
kind of life wholly different ; the humiliating distinction which 
deprived a people, once masters of the world, of the right of 
wearing arms ; the compulsory removal of the Goths from 
those pacific occupations which alone could have softened 
their manners, were so many distinctions which constantly 
recalled to the one, that they held in their hands the rights of 
victory, to the others, that they were bound by the law of the 
strongest. And the conquered was that Roman people, 



46 THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY. 

always full of the recollections of its ancient grandeur, and 
whose national pride, surviving its power, avenged its degra- 
dation by despising its rulers. The astonishing charactei 
of Theodoric made up for a while for the defects of his in- 
stitutions, and in the beginning his policy seemed to calm 
national antipathy ; but at his death the two races remained 
face to face, strangers and enemies as before. 

The uncertainty of the order of succession to the throne, 
the independent habits of the Barbarian warriors, and the 
disorders which these causes produced in the state, increased 
the instability of the Gothic monarchies. In Spain, the con- 
version of the conquerors to the Catholic faith came too late 
to repair the evils of the past ; for when the decay began, it 
was no longer time to attempt a general reorganization and 
to create a new nation. 

It was not, however, from this Spanish race, ever impa- 
tient of the yoke, that the power of the Goths could look for 
support : neither could they look for it from without. While 
the Franks, few at first, but on the borders of Germany, still 
drew new recruits from the countries yet occupied by their 
brothers, the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths, separated by avast 
distance from the regions which they had originally inhabit- 
ed, were isolated for ever upon a soil in which they could 
not take root. Sooner or later they could not but sink undei 
the attacks of strangers. 



§ IV. 

HISTORY OF THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY TO THE CONQUEST OF 
THE KINGDOM OF THE LOMBARDS BY CHARLEMAGNE. 

38. Invasion of Italy hy the Lovibards. — Alhoin. — The 
dominion of the Eastern Empire in Italy was not long to replace 



THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY. 47 

that of the Ostrogoths. Narses, after having subjected all the 
peninsula, had governed it fifteen years under the title of 
exarch : but his exactions rendered him odious to the Ro- 
mans. At the complaint of the senators, he was recalled by 
the Emperor Justin, and insulted in his disgrace by the Em- 
press Sophia, To revenge himself, he called, it is said, the 
Lombards into Italy (568). 

This barbarous nation, dreaded throughout Germany for 
its ferocity, descended from the banks of the Elbe and the 
Oder. Its chief, the brave and savage Alboin, ally of the 
Avars, had subdued the Gepidi after having killed their king 
vi'ith his own hand, and married the beautiful Rosamund, his 
enemy's daughter, who had been found among the prisoners. 
The Avars received for their portion Pannonia, which had 
been taken from the Gepidi : the Lombards set forth with 
their booty, with the understanding that if they should fail 
in their expedition, they were to receive back again the ter- 
ritory which they had surrendered to their allies. In a 
solemn banquet, Alboin served up to the principal chiefs the 
choicest fruits of the peninsula. All wished to hasten to the 
conquest of a country where such delicious productions were 
found ; and the whole Lombard nation, men, women, and 
children, accompanied by twenty thousand Saxons, descended 
into the plains of Italy. A general terror seized on all who 
saw these warriors, clad in the skins of wild beasts, who 
fought without giving quarter, and made drinking-cups out 
of the skulls of their enemies. Wherever they came, men 
fled before them. The lagoons of Venice received new in- 
habitants, and the principal cities, no longer defended by 
Narses, were compelled to open their gates to the Lombards, 
who uniting at Milan, proclaimed their chief king of Italy 
(568). Still Pavia held out, and when Alboin had at length 
taken it, after a siege of three years, he made it his capital, 
and founded the kingdom of the Lombards. The conquered 



48 THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY. 

territory was divided into duchies, which were granted to 
the principal chiefs. Ravenna, with the surrounding territo- 
ry, remained subject to the Greeks under the name of ex- 
archate, and continued for two hundred years longer to pre- 
serve itself independent of the Lombards. 

The new monarchy was shaken by the bloody death of 
Alboin, victim of the vengeance of his own wife, whom he 
had forced, in the intoxication of a banquet, to drink out of 
her father's skull. After the death of Clepli (574-575), Al- 
boin's successor, who was assassinated after a reign of eigh- 
teen months, the Lombard dukes divided the power between 
themselves, and agitated Italy by their dissensions for ten 
years. 

39. Development of the power of the Lombards. — Autha- 
ris. — AgiluJplius. — Rotharis. — Wearied at last with disorder 
and anarchy, and alarmed by the alliance of Maurice, empe- 
ror of the East, with Childeric IL, king of Austrasia, they 
gave up the sceptre to Autharis, son of Cleph, granting him at 
the same time half of their own domains for his support (585). 
Then began the brilliant period of the Lombards. Aul.haris 
leads his victorious army to the extremities of Italy, and 
spurring his horse into the waves, cries, " These are the 
limits of the empire of the Lombards." His widow, the vir- 
tuous Theodalinda, gives her hand, after his death, to duke 
Agihdphus, whom the Lombards hasten to place upon the 
throne (590-615). The queen, uniting her efforts with those 
of pope St. Gregory, softens their manners by propagating 
the Catholic religion among them, while Agilulphus defends 
his throne victoriously against the rebel dukes, and against 
the Greeks, united with the Avars and the Franks for the 
destruction of Lombardy. Soon after (536-652), Rotharis 
gives his subjects a regular code of laws, solemnly approved 
by the nation in the diet of Pavia, and which were framed to 
preserve public tranquillity, individual liberty, and the rights 



THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY. 49 

of property. At the same time he crushes the Greeks, 
whose attacks are suspended for nearly a century. 

40. Dissensions. — Last conquests. — Destruction of the 
Lomlard monarchy. — But internal dissensions are preparing 
the fall of the kingdom. The respect of the nation for the 
family of the great queen Theodalinda, cannot outweigh their 
attachment to the principle of election, sustained by the am- 
bition of the leading men. King Pertharite, grand-nephew 
of Theodalinda, driven away by Grimoald (662-671), duke 
of Beneventum, regains the crown after his rival's death, and 
after his own, his descendants dethrone and slaughter one 
another. Lombardy recovered for a moment her grandeur 
and prosperity, when she called the Bavarian Luitprand to 
the throne (741). Reformer of the Lombard laws, ally of 
Charles Martel, conqueror of the Saracens in Provence, and 
of the greater part of the exarchate, Luitprand made him- 
self redoubtable to all Italy. Rome, which an insurrection 
against the iconoclast officers of Leo the Isaurian (v. ch. v.) 
had freed from the supremacy of the empire, could scarcely 
defend her newly won independence against the valiant king 
of the Lombards, who knew how to take advantage of the 
indignation excited by the edicts of her heretic prince, to ex- 
tend his own dominions. Lombardy attained the limits of its 
territorial development under Asiolphus, who took possession 
of Ravenna definitively, and put an end to the exarchate 
(752). But his designs against Rome were thwarted by the 
king of the Franks, Pepin le Bref, who came to the defence 
of the pontiff, by whom his arms had been consecrated, and 
defeated Astolphus in both his descents into Italy. Astol- 
phus, compelled to accept peace, died shortly after, leaving 
to his successor Desiderius a throne already tottering, and 
which was soon to fall under the invincible arms of Charle- 
magne (774). 

Several maritime cities, Venice, Naples, Amalfi, &c., 
8 



50 THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY. 

bound to the Greek empire by a dependence purely nominal, 
began to form republics, which an active commerce soon 
rendered flourishing. 



CHAPTER III. 

A ]S" G L O - S A X ]Sr S . 

SUMMARY. ■ 

§ I. Britain abandoned by Honorius. — Internal troubles. — Invasion 
of the Caledonians ; the Britons call in the Saxons. — The Saxons estab- 
lish themselves in Britain. — Contest vs'ith the Britons ; foundation of the 
four Saxon kingdoms. — Invasions of the Angles, who found three king- 
doms in Britain. — Heptarchy. — Oppression of the conquered, — Preach- 
ing of St. Augustine. — Divisions between the states of the heptarchy ; 
they are subjected to Egbert the Great, king of Wessex. 

§ II. Invasions of the Danes, favored by internal dissensions. — Be- 
ginning of the reign of Alfred the Great. — His reverses. — His constan- 
cy. — His success. — Wise and skilful government of Alfred. — His efforts 
to civilize England. — Institutions and laws which are attributed to him. — 
Successors of Alfred. — Contest with the Scotch — Development of the 
English power. — New Danish invasions. — Danegeld imposed upon the 
English. — The Dane Sueno makes himself master of England. — Reign 
of Canute the Great. — Division of his heritage. — The ancient Saxon race 
reascends the throne. — Influence of the Normands under Edward the 
Confessor. — The way prepared for the conquest. 

§1. 

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 

HEPTARCHY. 

41. Britain abandoned by the Romans. — Invasion of the 
Caledonians. — The Saxons called in by the Britons. — Britain 



52 THE ANGLO-SAXONS IN ENGLAND. 

was too remote to be preserved long. When the invasion 
began, it became necessary to protect the heart of the Em- 
pire, instead of watching over distant frontiers. Under Ho- 
norius, all the Roman legions were recalled from Britain, in 
spite of the prayers of the inhabitants, who were thus left ex- 
posed to the attacks of the Caledonians. Thus condemned to 
independence, they substituted an imperfect organization to the 
Roman institutions, and raised national troops to supply the 
place of the legions. But degenerated by long servitude, 
they had become incapable either of governing or of defend- 
ing themselves. Instead of uniting for the common safety, 
the chiefs thought only of making war upon one another for 
the supreme power. While they were engaged in their dis- 
sensions, their indefatigable neighbors redoubled their attacks. 
The continual ravages of the Caledonians and Saxon pirates 
spread universal consternation and despair : the fields were 
left without cultivation ; famine and the plague desolated the 
whole island. In their distress, the Britons addressed their 
groans to Aetius, who commanded in Gaul ; but Aetius could 
not divide his forces. They then took the fatal resolution of 
interesting their enemies in their defence, and called the 
Saxons to their aid (448), with the offer of the little island 
of Thane, as a reward for their services. 

Hardly had the pirates landed when they began to de- 
mand ampler territories ; and the Britons repenting their im- 
prudence in calling in such dangej'ous auxiliaries, refused to 
fulfil their engagements. War of course broke out between 
the white dragon of the pirates, and the red dragon of the 
Britons. But the efforts of the brave Wortigern, head chief 
of the Britons, and his son Wortimer, were vain against their 
ferocious and warlike enemies, whose ranks were increased 
daily by new arrivals. 

42. Seven kingdoms founded hy the Saxons and Angles. — 
Hengist, chief of the Saxons, after having conquered the 



THE ANGLO-SAXONS IN ENGLAND. 53 

Scots and Britons, took in 455, the title of king of Kent. 
For seventy years the invasion continued. The Britons, di- 
vided among themselves, were defeated, as well as their old 
enemies, the Scots, and were gradually shut up in the 
mountainous districts of Wales and Cornwall. Great num- 
bers fled to Gaul, where they established themselves in Ar- 
morica, and gave to their new country the manners, language, 
and name of the old (Brittany). Meantime several Saxon 
chiefs settled in the countries abandoned by the vanquished 
Britons, founding successively the kingdoms of Sussex (Sud- 
sex, 491), Wessex (Westsex, 516), and Essex (Estsex, 526). 
Arthur alone (514-542), the hero of British fable, succeeded 
in preserving some portion of national independence, though 
his exploits can hardly be said to belong to authentic history. 
The first phase of the invasion was over : but soon ap- 
peared a new people, more savage and cruel than the Saxons 
themselves, and who came to seize upon the northern provin- 
ces which had remained in the hands of the Britons. Edda, 
chief of the Angles, setting out from the Cimbric Chersone- 
sus, landed with all his tribe in the north of Briton. After 
winning by his frightful devastations the surname of Fire- 
brand, he established himself there, and founded, in 547, the 
kingdom of Northumberland. A detachment of his tribe 

o 

formed, a few years later, that of East Anglea (571); and 
in 584 a third kingdom was founded by the Angles, under 
the name of the kingdom of Mercia. 

43. Conslituiion of the heptarchy. — 'Reunion of the seven 
kingdoms. — Thus was founded the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy, 
as it has generally been called, though from the original se- 
paration of Bernicia and Deira, it might more properly be 
termed an octarchy. Common interest first united the two 
races. The whole body of the victorious population leagued 
together to subdue Britain and oppress the vanquished. The 
natives diminished rapidly under the weight of a frightful 



54 THE ANGLO-SAXONS IN ENGLAND. 

tyranny, and the peaceful religion of Christ was supplanted 
by the bloody superstition of Odin. But the zeal of the mis- 
sionaries sent by .the Holy See, and led by the monk Angus- 
tin, was soon, under Eihelberi, king of Kent (596-616), and 
who was for a moment master of the whole heptarchy, to 
raise again the altars of Christianity, and exercise an influ- 
ence of peace and concord over these ferocious conquerors 
(v. ch. vi.). 

The heptarchy had a general council, called the Witte- 
nagemot (a council of sages), which, under the direction of 
the Bretwalda, the supreme chief, decided all questions of 
common interest. This institution, however, does not appear 
to have had great influence, and in spite of its conciliatory 
action, it was not long before the different people were again 
divided. 

War soon destroyed the equilibrium between the seven 
kingdoms, and those of Wessex, Mercia, and Northumber- 
land had already reduced the neighboring states under their 
dominion, when Egbert the Great, king of Wessex (800), a 
soldier trained in the armies of Charlemagne, united them 
all under his sceptre, and founded a real monarchy in Eng- 
land. Part of the British population had found a refuge from 
foreign dominion among the mountains of Cornwall and 
Wales. This feeble remnant of a great people had the glory 
of keeping possession of their last corner of land against 
all the efforts of a people immensely their superior in num- 
bers and in wealth ; often conquered, but never subdued, and 
preserving through ages of trial the unshaken conviction that 
a mysterious eternity was reserved for their language and 
their name. This eternity was predicted by the Welsh 
bards from the first day of their defeat, and the result seems 
to have justified their rash predictions. 



CIVIL WARS. 55 



§ II. 

CIVIL WAES. DANISH INVASIONS. KINGDOM OF ENGLAND TO 

THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 

44. Danish invasions. — The new monarchy which had 
sprung from an invasion, was to end also by an invasion. 
For several years the coasts of England had been ravaged 
by the Danish sea-kings (v. ch. x. § i.). Their incursions 
became more frequent and terrible after the death of Egbert. 
At the moment when union alone could have saved the na- 
tion from these terrible enemies, Ethelwolf divided his king- 
dom among his children (858). The dissensions of the 
princes favored the progress of the Danes, aided by the 
Welsh and the Scotch, mortal enemies of the Anglo-Saxon 
race. On their first attack, the famous pirate Lodbrock was 
taken prisoner, and perished in a frightful dungeon filled 
with serpents ; but his death-song was repeated on all the 
coasts of Scandinavia. His sons fell upon the north of Eng- 
land, massacred the inhabitants, and divided the lands among 
themselves. Edmund the king was taken prisoner, and 
whipped to death by the barbarous conquerors. The hour 
of their triumph, however, was not yet come ; a hero 
snatched their prey from their hands. The youngest of 
Ethelwolf's sons, Alfred, who had been sent to be crowned 
in Rome by the pope when only five years old, and had given 
early proofs of his shining talents, was called to the throne 
by the death of his brother, who had died of a wound receiv- 
ed in fighting manfully against the Danes (871). 

45. Beginning of the reign of Alfred. — Reverses. — Ex- 
pulsion of the Danes. — Alfred's talents were formed in the 
rude school of adversity. For seven years he struggled 
against adverse fortune, vainly, but with indomitable cour- 



55 CIVIL WARS. 

age. Every wave seemed to bring a new enemy to the 
English coast. The Saxons themselves became weai'ied 
with a hopeless struggle, and all yielded but Alfred. The 
king of Mercia took refuge at Rome under the disguise of a 
pilgrim ; but Alfred would not leave his kingdom. Con- 
cealed amid woods and marshes, and reduced to seek shelter 
in the hut of a swineherd, he calmly waited for better times. 
With a few friends he hazarded occasional attacks upon small 
detachments of the enemy, and at last, raising his standard, 
collected an ai'my on the borders of Selwood forest. To 
ascertain the enemy's position, he entered their camp in the 
garb of a minstrel, and then taking advantage of the infor- 
mation which he had thus gained, be fell upon them una- 
wares and put them to flight (878). Gothum, their chief, 
swore peace with Mercia, and received baptism. A few 
yeai's afterwards, another sea-king, Hastings, appeared in 
league with the Danes of Northumberland. But Alfred 
shut up the pirates in their camp, took Hastings's wife and 
children prisoners, and only released them on condition that 
the Danes should quit England immediately. From that 
time the peace of his reign was unbroken. 

46. Wise and skilful government of Alfred the Great. — 
This prince was the greatest king of old England. Worthy 
rival of Charlemagne, while fighting for the independence 
of his country he labored to diffuse the lights of civilization 
among a barbarous people. As a child, he had manifested a 
remarkable fondness for study. His mother was one day 
showing her children a volume of Saxon poems beautifully 
illuminated, with the promise that it should be his who should 
learn the quickest to read. Alfred, though youngest of all, 
set himself to the task, and was soon able to recite the whole 
volume. When king, it saddened him to see that very few 
on the banks of the Humber, and fewer still on the banks 
of the Thames, could understand their Latin prayers. He 



CIVIL WARS. 57 

called learned men to his court, learnt Latin himself at the 
age of thirty-eight, translated Bede, Orosius, Boethius, open- 
ed schools, chiefly for those who were destined for the church, 
and founded, it is said, the university and library of Oxford. 
The churches and monasteries which had been destroyed by 
the Danes were rebuilt or repaired, and missionaries sent 
through the country to extend the mild influence of Chris- 
tianity. 

47. Institutions attributed to Alfred. — The admiration of 
the English loved to attribute to Alfred many noble and use- 
ful institutions which had been gradually formed before his 
time, and which he only completed and developed. From 
his reign England was divided into counties, hundreds, and 
tythings, and every citizen was required to take his place 
in one of these divisions, under penalty of being proscribed 
as a vagabond. The heads of ten families who formed the 
tything, were responsible for one another ; and the tything 
was judge of the disputes between its members. Where 
the communities themselves were concerned, the cause was 
carried before the assembly of the canton, composed of a 
hundred families, from which twelve freemen were chosen 
to decide the question on oath. This was the origin of the 
jury. In every county there was a superior tribunal, which 
met twice a year, under the presidency of the bishop or of 
the alderman of the county. The great council of the na- 
tion, the Wittenagemot, composed of bishops, abbots, counts, 
and larger landholders, and which contrived to exercise 
supreme control over the whole judicial hierarchy, was con- 
vened by the king himself. 

These different institutions, the development of which 
was favored by the enaction of laws common to all, had the 
happiest influence on the order and police of the kingdom, 
and Alfx'ed is said to have hung up valuable bracelets by the 
highway, which no one dared to touch. But the greatest 

3* 



58 CIVIL WARS. 

danger came from without ; and to guard against this, he had 
a fleet of long, fast-sailing ships, built for the protection of the 
coast. In the midst of these useful enterprises he was cut 
off at the age of fifty-three (900), and his work of regene- 
ration, like that of Charlemagne, perished with him. Yet 
his memory has survived to adorn the brightest page of the 
annals of British kings, and his immediate successors found 
an efficient protection against foreign invasion in the energy 
of his measures and the glory of his reign. 

48. Contest with Scotland. — During the tenth century the 
kingdom was only troubled by internal dissensions and occa- 
sional wars with Scotland. Most of Alfred's successors, fol- 
lowing the example of his son Edward the Elder (900-925), 
endeavored to preserve the countiy from invasion by building 
fortresses, increasing the fleet, and disciplining the army : 
and under Edgar the Pacific (957-975), Wales, Scotland, 
and Ireland itself acknowledged the supremacy of England. 
At the same period, St. Dunstan, a severe censor of corrupt 
manners, travelled over the kingdom, reforming the religious 
orders and re-establishing the purity of ecclesiastical dis- 
cipline. 

49. Conquest of England ly the Banes. — Canute the 
Great and his successors. — It was not till the reign of Ethel- 
red II. (978-1013), seventy-eight years after Alfred's death, 
that the Danes recommenced their attacks. Sueno and Olof, 
kings of Denmark and Norway, compelled the English to 
ransom themselves by the tribute of Danegeld. Ethelred 
thought that he could escape from this ignominy by massa- 
creing all the Danes established in his states (1003). A 
fearful invasion avenged this cowardly treachery. The 
cities were burnt ; the inhabitants slaughtered in the 
churches in which they had sought a refuge ; Ethelred 
driven into exile; and Sueno took possession of the throne 
(1013). 



CIVIL WARS. 59 

The new dynasty gave England an illustrious prince, 
Canute the Great, son of Sueno, who reigned over Scandina- 
via and Great Britain. His marriage with Ethelred's widow, 
the re-establishment of the laws of Alfred, and the mildness 
of his government, won him the affections of the conquer- 
ed as well as the conquerors : the English marched in his 
train to the conquest of Norway. Canute, proud of his 
power, took the title of Emperor of the North — king of kings. 
The pope, whom he visited as a pilgrim, and the emperor of 
Germany, sought his alliance. He left at his death -three 
crowns to his sons Sueno, Hardi Canute, and Harold. But 
for six years these princes waged incessant war against one 
another, and after the death of the two last, followed by Sue- 
no's withdrawing to Denmark, the sceptre slipped from the 
grasp of the Danish dynasty. The old Saxon race remount- 
ed the throne, with Edward the Confessor (1042-1066). This 
prince, who had been educated in Normandy, brought back 
to his kingdom the language and the manners of the French 
Normans ; and their admission to civil and ecclesiastical 
offices prepared the way for the conquest, which was com- 
pleted under the reign of Hai'old, his successor (v. ch. x.). 



CHAPTER IV. 

HISTOEY OF THE FRANKS, OEGAISTIZATION OF THE 

BAEBAEIANS AFTEE THE CONQUEST. 



SXJMMARY. 

Part First. — § I. First settlements of the Franks beyond the Rhine . 
— Conquest of Gaul by Clovis. — Foundation of the Frank monarchy. — 
Battle of Tolbiac. — Conversion of Clovis. — Battle of Vougle. — Conquest 
of Aquitania. — Division of the kingdom of Clovis. — Rivalry of the sons 
of Clovis. — Conquest of Burgundy. — Expedition against the Visigoths. 
— Into Italy. — Chlothaire I. sole master of the Frank monarchy. — Expe- 
ditions of the Franks into Burgundy, Italy, Spain, and Germany. 

§ II. Second period of the History of the Franks. — Division of the 
kingdom of Chlothaire. — Rivalry between Austrasia and Neustria. — Fre- 
degunde and Brunechilde. — Treaty of Andelot. — New civil wars. — 
Chlothaire II. sole king. — Mayors of the palace. — Pepin of Landen. — 
Austrasia overcomes Neustria. — Dagobert. — The last Merovingians or 
Faineants kings. — The mayor Grimuald. — Contests between the mayors 
Ebroin and St. Leger. — Pepin of Heristal duke of Austrasia. — Triumph 
of Austrasia at Testry. — Pepin's government. — Troubles after Pepin's 
death. — Charles Martel, duke of the Franks. — His exploits. — Carloman 
and Pepin. — War in Aquitania. — Retreat of Carloman. — The last Mero- 
vingian is deposed and Pepin proclaimed king. 

Fart Second. — § I. State of Europe after the invasion. — State of the 
lands. — Division between the conquerors. — Allodial — Beneficiary — Tri- 
butary lands. 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS OF THE FRANKS. 61 

§ II. Influence of property on the state of persons. — Beginning of a 
social hierarchy. — Of the nobility. — Of freemen. — Of the lidi and 
freedmen. — Of slaves. 

§ III. Modification of the German idea of government by the influ- 
ence of Roman ideas. — Development of the royal povs'er. — Decay of 
popular sovereignty. — Formation of the aristocracy. 

§ IV. Changes in legislation. — Written laws among the Barbarians. 
■ — Character of their legislation more or less modified by the principles 
of the Roman law. — Personal character of their laws. 

§ V. Immediate but secondary results of the invasion. — Principal 
results. — Regeneration of society. — Combination of Roman and German 
principles under the influence of Christianity. 



PART FIRST. 

§1. 

FIRST SETTLEMENTS, FIRST TRIBES, AND FIRST CHIEFS OF THE 

FRANKS. CLOVIS. CIVIL "WARS AND EXPEDITIONS OF THE 

FRANKS. 

50. First settlements of the Franks beyond the Rhine. — 
As early as the middle of the third century, the Franks were 
already united in a confederation which constantly menaced 
that beautiful and extensive province which was one day to 
become their own. To disarm these indefatigable enemies, 
the emperors had abandoned to several of their tribes the 
country districts of northern Gaul, which had been laid waste 
by their incessant inroads. Julian the Apostate had given 
them Toxandria, on condition that they would defend the fron- 
tiers of the. empire, which they did valiantly. But they 
claimed a larger share ; and no sooner had the great shock 
been given to the Roman dominion by the general invasion, 
than they began once more the contest, which was to end 
only with their triumph. They were seen for a moment 



62 FIRST SETTLEMENTS OF THE FRANKS. 

under Meroveus, fighting with the Romans against the Huns 
at the battle of Chalons (451); and they had attempted also 
to check the advance of the general invasion, with the inten- 
tion, doubtless, of reserving for themselves the inheritance 
which they had coveted so long. But already, before the 
time of Meroveus, Chlodian, chief of the Salian Franks, had 
appeared as conqueror on the banks of the Somme. Childe- 
ric (456-481), son of Meroveus, dethroned by his subjects 
on account of his debauchery and afterwards restored to 
power, had pushed his expeditions to the banks of the Loire. 
The completion of the conquest was reserved for his son. 

51. Conquest of Gaul by Clovis (481-511), (v. Supple- 
ment). — Clovis, king at fifteen of the little tribe of Franks 
of Tournay, leagued with Ragnacar, chief of the Franks of 
Cambray, to attack the Roman governor, Syagrius, and over- 
threw, by- the battle of Soissons, the Roman dominion in 
northern Gaul (486). Though married to St. Chlotilda, 
daughter of Gondebald, king of Burgundy, he had adhered 
firmly to the worship of his idols, in spite of the solicitations 
of the pious princess. But at the battle of Tolbiac (496) 
against the Allemanni, he made a vow, on seeing his soldiers 
break and fly, that if he won the day he would embrace 
Christianity. He won it, and was baptized by St. Remi, 
Archbishop of Rheims, together with more than three thou- 
sand of his warriors, who followed their leader to the font as 
they would have followed him to battle. Thus Clovis be- 
came the natural protector of the Catholics, and in turning 
his arms against his heretical rivals, seemed to be fulfilling 
a solemn duty. Accordingly, after having subjected the 
Burgundians to a tribute (500), he declared war against the 
heretical Visigoths. "I cannot bear," said he, "that those 
Arians should possess the best part of Gaul : let us go forth 
against them ; and when we have, by God's help, ovei'come 
them, we will reduce their country under our dominion and 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS OF THE FRANKS. 63 

their persons to slavery." Deceiving his enemy by a shame- 
ful perjury, he went forward, guided, says the monkish his- 
torian, by a miraculous agent, and encountering Alaric II. at 
VougU, gained a victory, which the death of his antagonist 
rendered the more complete, and would have overrun the 
whole kingdom if Theodoric had not checked him in mid- 
course upon the banks of the Rhone. To make amends for 
this, he established his authority in Armorica, and took pos- 
session, by treachery and murder, of the territories of the 
Frank chiefs of Cologne, Terouane, Cambray, and Mans ; and 
died, in 511, leaving to his sons the care of completing the 
conquest of Burgundy for which he had prepared the way. 

At his death it was seen how dangerous a thing it is to 
leave a throne without any fixed order of succession, and 
expose a nation, like a private inheritance, to all the chances 
of arbitrary division. This principle of division, which the 
Franks had brought with them from Germany, became the 
source of endless disputes among the descendants of Clovis, 
and crowned by frightful crimes a long series of suffering. 

52. Rivalry of the children of Clovis. — Their expeditions. 
— Chlothaire I. — Clovis had divided his states among his four 
children. To Thierry, the eldest, he gave Metz, with the 
country which lies between the Rhine and the Meuse, and a 
part of Aquitania. Childebert was king of Paris and the 
banks of the Seine, with the rest of Aquitania. Chlodomir 
reigned over Orleans and the banks of the Loire. Chlo- 
thaire received Soissons and the provinces of the northwest 
of Gaul. 

The Franks preserved, under the sons of Clovis, their 
warlike and conquering character ; but they turned it as 
often against one another as against foreigners. They car- 
ried their arms into Germany, Burgundy, Spain, and Italy. 
Chlodomir, conqueror of Sigismund, king of Burgundy (523), 
put him to death, but was killed himself the next year by 



64 FIRST SETTLEMENTS OF THE FRANKS. 

Gondemar, Sigismund's father, and his children were assas- 
sinated by their uncles Childebert and Chlothaire. While 
Thierry, aided by Chlothaire, made war upon the Thurin- 
gians (524), Childebert overran his dominion (507), till his 
victorious brother returned to lay waste the kingdom of Paris 
with fire and sword (530). 

At length, after so much discord and crime, the sons of 
Clovis united together in one great expedition, and in three 
campaigns made themselves masters of Burgundy (531—534). 
Childebert made war upon Amalaric, king of the Visigoths, 
to revenge the cruelty with which the Arian had treated his 
wife, the sister of the Frank king : but though successful in 
the beginning, ample booty was all that he retained of his 
conquest. Theodeiert, the son of Thierry, is the Frank 
hero of this epoch. He carried his adventurous arms into 
Italy, where the Greeks and the Ostrogoths were waging a 
destructive war, and returned laden with booty, after having 
beaten both his allies and his enemies. Provence, which the 
Visigoths had ceded to him as a reward for his alliance, be- 
came a part of his kingdom. His son Theodebert (548-555) 
inherited his warlike disposition and his projects ; but the 
two chiefs whom he sent across the Alps, Leutharis and Buc- 
celin, lost their armies, and the Franks renounced for a 
while these distant expeditions. 

After Theodebert's death, which was soon followed by 
that of Childebert (558), Chlothaire remained sole master of 
all the inheritance of his father's family. But his reign was 
none the more tranquil • and the revolt of his son Chramne, 
whom he conquered, and caused to be burnt to death in a 
cottage, was both the punishment and the crowning act of his 
ci'iminal enterprises. 



DECAY OF THE MEROVINGIANS. 65 



§11. 



DECAY OF THE MEROVINGIANS. VICTORY OF ATJSTRASIA OVER 

NETJSTRIA.- — BIAYORS OF THE PALACE OF THE TWO COUN- 
TRIES. THE TWO PEPINS. 

53. Netv division. — Rivalry of Austrasia and Neustria.-— 
Brunecliilde and Fredegund. — Chlothaire I. died in 561, and 
his states were divided among his four sons : Charibert 
reigned at Paris, Gontran at Orleans, Siegbert at Metz, and 
Chilperic at Soissons. Upon the death of Charibert, a new 
division was made, which marks out more clearly the sepa- 
ration of the different races which were then comprised in 
the empire of the Franks. Gontran received Burgundy, 
Siegbert Austrasia, and Chilperic Neustria. Neustria was 
the country of the tribe of Clovis which had subdued Gaul, 
and advancing towards the south, had been quickly subject- 
ed to the influence of the old Roman population. Austrasia 
was peopled by other tribes nearer to Germany, who had 
preserved their primitive manners and their love of war and 
conquest. Hence the deep-rooted and constant rivalry be- 
tween Austrasia and Neustria, which was in fact a contest 
between Germany and the last remnants of Roman society 
in Gaul. 

The contest began by the famous quarrel of the two 
queens, Fredegund, wife of Chilperic, and Brunechilde, wife 
of the king of Austrasia, who seem to personify the two 
races. Fredegund had raised herself to the throne by pro- 
curing the death of Galswintlia, Brunechilde's sister. Bru- 
nechilde excited her husband to punish the assassin, and 
Siegbert had already invaded the kingdom of Neustria, 
and had himself proclaimed by the nobles, when he was 
assassinated by Fredegund's emissaries (577). His death 



66 DECAY OF THE BIEROVINGIANS. 

turned the scale in favor of Chilperic, who attacked Austra- 
sia, and but for Gontran's intervention, would have seized 
upon the inheritance of his nephew, the young Childe- 
bert. While Childebert governed by the advice of his 
mother, Brunechilde, who after a long captivity had escaped 
from her enemies, Chilperic was assassinated, as was supposed, 
by his wife, and Gontran became the protector of his young 
son Chloihaire II. against the ambition of Childebert. 

54. Treaty of Andelot. — Cloihaire II. sole king. — A dan- 
gerous revolt in Aquitania, fostered by the patrician Mummo- 
lus, suspended for a while by a common danger the discord of 
the Frank kings. The rebels were subdued (584), and three 
years afterwards the alliance of the three kings was confirm- 
ed by the celebrated treaty of Andelot, which strengthening 
the military aristoc racy by making fiefs hereditary, prepared 
the way for the usurpations of the Mayors of the palace (587). 
New troubles broke out at the death of Gontran (593) and 
Childebert (596). Brunechilde assumed the government in 
Austrasia and Burgundy, as guardian of Childebert's two 
sons, Theodehert II. and Thierry II, Fredegund, who ruled 
Neustria in the name of Chlothaire II., declared war against 
her, and g-ained a great victory. But dying shortly after 
(596), Brunechilde's grandchildren repaired their losses by 
stripping Chlothaire of the greater part of his states (600). 
Nothing but the discord of the two brothers saved him from 
total destruction. Theodehert, after having conquered and 
put to death Thierry and his son Merova^us, died suddenly 
(613). Chlothaire was proclaimed king by the nobles of 
Burgundy and Austrasia, who delivered into his hands Bru- 
nechilde and the children of Thierry, The unhappy prin- 
cess was condemned to a horrid death by her implacable 
enemy — and thus ended the last act of the bloody drama 
which had begun with the death of Clovis (613). 

55. Mayordom of the palace. — Austrasia separates from 



DECAY OF THE MEKOVINGIANS. 67 

Neiistria. — Chlothaire did not maintain long in his vast do- 
minions the unity of power which had been re-established by 
the precarious union of Austrasia and Neustria. The Aus- 
trasian nobles, dissatisfied with their subjection to a chief of 
a rival race, resumed their national individuality by compel- 
ling Chlothaire to give them for king his son Dagobert, under 
the guardianship of Pepin of Landen (or the elder), their 
mayor of the palace, who was the real head of the govern- 
ment. When the death of his father (628), and of his 
brother Charibert (631), had again reunited France under 
one sceptre, the Austrasians exacted from Dagobert the re- 
cognition of their independence with his son Siegbert 11. for 
king (633). From that time the mayordom of the palace 
became the sovereign authority in Austrasia, and soon effaced 
that of a royalty which had sunk to an empty name. 

In Neustria, where the title of king was preserved to the 
very last, the power passed also from children and feeble 
princes to the vigorous hands of the mayors. After Dago- 
bert, who had rendered his sceptre redoubtable by his victo- 
ries over the Saxons, the Gascons, and the Armoricans, and 
who had been aided in his wise administration by the advice 
of St. EM, begins that long series of princes without autho- 
rity and without influence, whom history has classed under 
the general and ignominious name of famdans. 

56. The faineants kings after Dagobert. — Contest between 
Ehroin and St. Leger. — While the kingdom of Neustria 
passed to Clovis II. (638), Pepin of Landen transmitted the 
supreme power in Austrasia to his son Grimuald, who ac- 
quired such an ascendency by the support of the clergy, that 
on the death of Siegbert he ventured to shut up the young 
Dagobert II. in a cloister, and thought that he might- give 
the sceptre to his own son. But the nobles became suspi- 
cious of the ambitious projects of their mayor, and depriving 
him of his power, gave themselves once more to the king of 



68 DECAY OF THE MEROVINGIANS. 

Neustria. But the union maintained by the wisdom of the 
mayor of Neustria, Erchinoald, was soon broken when the roy- 
al power had passed to the eldest son of Clovis II., Chlothaire 
III. (656), and the office of mayor to the impetuous Ebroin. 
The nobles, whose influence was menaced by the mayor, re- 
volted under the guidance of St. Leger, bishop of Autun, 
mayor of Burgundy, and took for king Childeric II., brother 
of Chlothaire HI., while Ebroin gave the title of king of 
Neustria to Thierry III., third son of Clovis II. Ebroin and 
his phantom king were beaten and thrown into a cloister ; 
but the conqueror Childeric II. had the imprudence to reject 
the sage advice of St. Leger, whom he shut up in the same 
convent with Ebroin, and to irritate the nobles by his violent 
and tyrannic measures. A revolt set the two mayors at 
liberty. Ebroin restored to Thierry III. the sceptre of Chil- 
deric, who perished by the hands of an assassin, and attacked 
St. Leger, who had been re-established in his authority in 
Burgundy. St. Leger was defeated, and falling into the 
hands of his enemy, was put to death after cruel tortures. 
Marvellous stories have been handed down of the miracles 
which attended his punishment, and his memory was vene- 
rated as that of a saint. 

57. Pepin of Heristal.— Triumph of Austrasia over Neus- 
tria. — During these troubles and divisions, Austrasia had de- 
finitively abolished royalty, and confirmed its independence 
under the authority of the wise and skilful mayor of the 
palace, Pepin of Heristal, who received the title of duke 
(678). Ere long the contest broke out anew between the 
two rival races. Ebroin, victorious in a first battle, was as- 
sassinated (681), and Austrasia soon took a brilliant revenge 
at the famous battle of Testry (687), won by Pepin of Heris- 
tal, which established the preponderance of the Austrasians, 
and may be considered as the last and decisive victory of 
Germany over Gaul. 



DECAY OF THE MEROVINGIANS. 69 

Pepin of Heristal, chief of all the Frank races, and firmly- 
sustained by the clergy, whom he had conciliated by a sin- 
cere attachment to the church, preserved to his death an 
authority which he confirmed by his wise administration and 
his victories over the Britons, the Prisons, and the Allemanni. 
He had raised successively to a nominal throne, Clovis III. 
(691), Childebert III. (695), and Dagobert III. (711). 

58. Troubles. — Charles Martel. — His exploits. — After Pe- 
pin's death the preponderance of Austrasia seemed for an 
instant to be compromised. The nobles of Neustria gave the 
office of mayor to Rainfroy. The new mayor expelled The- 
odebald, grandson of Pepin, who had bequeathed him his 
authority under the guardianship of St. Plectrude, his widow. 
But Charles, a natural son of Pepin, roused the courage of 
the Austrasians, conquered in two battles Childeric II., who 
had made a momentary effort to exercise the royal power for 
his own advantage, and gave his throne and the title of king 
to Chloihaire IV., while he reserved the royal authority for 
himself. He employed it wisely and nobly. During ten 
years he waged a fierce war against the Saxons, the Prisons, 
and the Bavarians (720-730), and returned at the head of his 
victorious army to oppose the invasion of the Mussulmen, who 
had made themselves masters of Spain and Septimania, and 
were advancing through Aquitania, under the Emir Alder- 
ante. The celebrated battle of Poictiers (732) saved Prance 
and Europe, and won for Charles the surname of Martel 
(hammer). Charles had won his victory with the aid of 
Aquitania, which formed an independent state under the suc- 
cessors of Charibert. But this ancient conquest of Clovis 
excited his ambition. He subdued Duke Eudes, seized upon 
Provence, which had yielded to the Arabs, and invaded their 
possessions of Septimania. 

59. Pepin and Carloman. — Pepin is proclaimed king.-^ 
Charles, who after the death of Thierry II. had left the throne * 



70 ORGANIZATION OF THE BARBARIANS. 

vacant, without taking for himself the name of king, divided 
his states between his two sons, Carloman, to whom he gave 
Austrasia, and Pepin, surnamed the Short, to whom he gave 
Neustria and Burgundy (742). The two princes united to 
suppress the insurrection of Bavaria, which had been con- 
quered by Charles Martel, and force the Duke of Aquitania 
to do them homage. Soon Carloman retired to a convent 
(747), and the whole of France was reunited under Pepin, 
who at first thought it prudent to restore the sceptre to the 
feeble Childeric III., last descendant of the Merovingian race, 
in order to build up his authority without fear under the 
shadow of a royal name. But once firmly established, and 
invited, it is said, by the nobles, to assume the supreme title 
where he had long held the supreme authority, he consulted 
Pope Zacchary, and by the advice of this pontiff, deposed 
Childeric, and caused himself to be proclaimed king by his 
warriors in the field of May (687). 



PART SECOND. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE BARBARIANS AFTER THE CONQUEST. 

The invasion of the Barbarians, ending by the establish- 
ment of so many new nations upon the soil which the Roman 
empire had occupied, changes the whole aspect of society. 
The imperial organization, the last product of Roman civili- 
zation, disappears, or is reduced for a long time to a secondary 
part. During all the first half of the middle ages, the Ger- 
manic customs regulate, almost exclusively, the state of per- 
sons and property, and predominate in the government and 
laws. 



OF LANDS. 71 

§1. 

OF LANDS. 

60. Division of lands among the conquerors. — The inva- 
sion was every where followed by the distribution of the 
conquered lands among the conquerors ; and the division was 
made according to the customs of each people. The Bur- 
gundians took from the Romans half of their dwellings, two- 
thirds of the cultivated lands, and only one-third of their 
slaves. A x'ace of shepherds, they needed vast pastures for 
their flocks, and few servants. The Burgundian, mild and 
sociable in his habits, was the guest of the Roman with whom 
he took up his residence : he sat at his table, and when he 
wished to sell his lands, he would naturally prefer the Roman 
to any other purchaser. The Visigoths took the same part 
as the Burgundians. The Ostrogoths, who were spread all over 
Italy, contented themselves with a third of the lands already 
invaded by the Heruli ; but while several of the Barbarians, 
as a compensation for their invasions, exempted the conquer- 
ed people from taxes, the Ostrogoths maintained the taxes on 
persons and on real estate which the Romans had paid under 
the empire. The Lombards, who on their arrival in Italy, 
had lost nothing of their nomadic habits, did not trouble them- 
selves about property ; this they left to the Italians, and ex- 
acted only a third of the products of all the lands, until the 
habits of a sedentary life gradually transformed them into a 
people of farmers. The Franks do not seem to have despoiled 
the Gallo-Romans ; but they doubtless took for themselves 
the deserted fields or the vast fiscal estates which the fall of 
the empire had left without a master. The domains which 
were not divided remained public property, common to all, 
where every one was free to feed his flocks, according to the 



72 OF LANDS. 

old German usage, which required the cultivator to throw 
down his inclosures after harvest. 

61. Allodial — Beneficiary — Trihutary lands. — The lands 
distributed by lot among the heads of families of the con- 
quering tribes, were called allodial (from los, lot). " The 
warrior," says Bouteiller, " holds his land only from God, 
who directed the cast of the lot, and from his sword, which 
won the victory." Therefore allodial lands were exempt 
from taxation and tribute. The primitive allodium was also 
called salic land (from sala, manor). As it had been originally 
given as the reward of valor, so it was always to remain in 
the hands of a warrior : and thus, among most of the German 
tribes, it could only pass to a female when there were no 
males to inherit it. Among the Franks, females could not 
inherit it in any case. 

At the side of this independent and hereditary allodium 
was the benefice or fief, essentially precarious and subordi- 
nate. The origin of benefices must be referred to Roman 
usages and German institutions. It is allied to those conces- 
sions of land by which the emperors endeavored to fix the 
Barbarian tribes upon the soil of the empire, and above all, 
to the old German custom of vassalage. The German chief, 
surrounded by numerous companions, rewarded their services 
by dividing his booty among them, and gave them his pro- 
lection in exchange for their devotion to his person. But 
when their definitive settlement upon the Roman soil had 
rendered pillage rarer and modified their wants, warriors re- 
quired other recompenses ; and lands were given them on 
condition of homage to the chief who had granted them, fol- 
lowing him to war, sitting in his assemblies of justice, and 
aiding him on all occasions. And thus the personal relation 
of vassalage was changed into a relation wholly territorial. 

The usufructuary benefices, which at first, after the death 
of the grantee, returned as a matter of right to the grantor, 



OF PERSONS. 73 

soon became eventually hereditary : the land could be granted 
on the same conditions by which it was held. The lord lost 
the power of taking it away at will, and the beneficiary's heir 
acquired the right of holding the fief for himself, by doing 
homage and accepting the obligations contracted by his father : 
a privilege which was soon after converted into an absolute 
right of inheritance. 

The full grant of a domain for a moneyed rent, an institu- 
tion of purely Roman origin, continued after the invasion. 
These lands were called ti'ibutary. 

§ II. 

OF PERSONS. 

62. Influence of property on the state of persons. — Social 
hierarchy. — In such a disorganized society as that which 
begins with the fifth century, it is useless to look for a well 
defined classification of persons. The Germanic principles 
give, as will be seen, to landed property a great influence 
over the state of persons, by connecting with it those personal 
prerogatives which among the Romans were essentially in- 
dependent. In the beginning, however, this influence was not 
yet powerful enough to determine, in a general manner, the 
social state of individuals ; it only modified the classes, which, 
though with very little precision, existed in German society 
before the invasion. 

The principle of equality prevailed in Germany, admit- 
ting of scarcely any other distinctions than those of fact. 
Freemen possessing equal rights formed the nation (see ch. i. 
§ ii.) ; above them rose a few individuals, but only by virtue 
of personal merit. Below them were the slaves, whose con- 
dition, though they were not regarded as members of the 
tribes, was far from that of the same class in Rome. 

4 



74 OF PERSONS. 

After the conquest, the separation between the classes 
becomes more marked, and a certain social hierarchy begins. 
We no longer see among the nobles that mobility, that indi- 
viduality, which we have remarked in ancient Germany ; 
but we do not yet see those characteristics of an inaccessible 
and privileged cast, which will give them so much strength 
in the next period. 

63, The nobility. — The clergy. — Freemen. — The lidi,freed- 
men, slaves. — Whatever can render man illustrious and pow- 
erful is a title of nobility. Glory, fortune, talent, royal favor, 
contribute equally to form a sort of aristocracy to which 
every man can aspire, and which gives no other legal privi- 
lege than a claim to a higher pecuniary compensation for an 
injury. Among these nobles we find the descendants of 
German chiefs, heirs of vast domains awarded to their fathers 
after the conquest ; the warriors, whose valor the king rewards 
by the gift of some fief, and the high functionaries of the 
palace. Those who in the German tribe would have been 
the counsellors of the nation, become the counsellors of the 
king, who endeavors to attach them to his own person in 
order to strengthen his influence. 

Such, among the Franks, are the Leudes, companions or 
Jideles of the king : the antrusiions, royal guests, who them- 
selves have vassals attached to their own persons : among the 
Saxons, the royal thanes : the optimates in Burgundy : the 
counts and dukes among the Visigoths. But these distinc- 
tions were not reserved for the conquerors alone : those of 
the Romans who were still great landholders, and even freed- 
men, enriched by their masters' favor, were admitted to the 
title of royal guests. This nobility does not yet secure any 
political privilege — has not yet become the essential condition 
of admission to any office. 

The members of the clergy are almost always assimilated 



OF GOVERNMENT. 75 

with the men of the first class, and the bishops with the no- 
blest among the warriors. 

The freemen (fribourgs), proprietors of allodiums, and 
warriors (ahrimajini), admitted in arms to the national assem- 
blies, compose the second class. Their property guarantees 
their independence ; but it is soon menaced and destroyed by 
the constantly increasing preponderance of the nobility. 

The lidi, freemen by origin who have passed into vassal- 
age, and enfranchised slaves, incapable of exercising the full 
right of property, form an intermediary class, generally sub- 
jected to statute labor and rent service, but enjoying a certain 
degree of personal independence, and superior to the slaves, 
who still stand at the bottom of the social scale, though soon 
to disappear under the double influence of German manners 
and the principles of Christianity. 

§ III. 

OF GOVERNMENT. 

64. German traditions modified by Roman customs. — The 
German traditions were long preserved, both in government 
and in the organization of society ; but not without being 
gradually modified by the influence of Roman ideas. Among 
the Germanic tribes the government of society was based 
upon two foundations of unequal importance, the sovereignty 
of the people, and the precarious delegation of the supreme 
power to a chief rather than to a king. Both of these ele- 
ments appear again after the conquest ; but the reaction of 
Roman customs tends promptly and almost universally to 
give the preponderance to the second, and gradually do away 
with the first. 

Royalty surrounds itself with all the pomp of the Roman 
ceremonial and titles, which the Barbarian chiefs ask as a 



76 LEGISLATION OF THE BARBARIANS. 

favor from the heirs of the empire ; frivolous phantoms in 
appearance, but which change by degrees the nature of their 
power. Alaric, chief of the Visigoths, asked for the title of 
prefect of Illyria ; Odoacer the Herulian was named patrician 
by the emperor of the East ; Clovis solicited the same dis- 
tinction ; Theodoric was proclaimed consul, and adopted by 
Zeno. Thus the royal dignity was elevated and confirmed. 
The principle of election, so active in Germany, is slowly 
undermined, and is every where combined with the constantly 
increasing custom of confining the election to the members 
of the royal family. 

65. Weakening of the sovereignty of the people. — Progress 
of the aristocracy. — The general assemblies, a true national 
representation or rather participation of the whole nation in 
the government, were continued for some time. But their 
primitive character was quickly lost in the Field of March 
of the Franks, the Diet of Pavia of the Lombards, the Wit- 
ienagemot of the Anglo-Saxons, and the Council of Toledo 
of the Visigoths, in which the most important decisions were 
taken, and the gravest disputes decided. The constantly in- 
creasing preponderance of the nobles, the establishment of a 
hierarchy of dignitaries, dukes, counts, SfC, tend by degrees 
to banish from the national assemblies their essential element, 
the freemen, or leaving them only a secondary place, to cre- 
ate a rich aristocracy, which, after having destroyed the 
Germanic traditions of popular sovereignty, soon attacks the 
sovereign power itself. 

§ IV. 

LEGISLATION OP THE BARBARIANS. 

66. General character of the Barbarian legislation. — This 
change in the character of the government is followed by a 



LEGISLATION OF THE BARBARIANS. ' 77 

correlative and equally important modification in legislation. 
In place of those customs, the direct expression of the gene- 
ral wants and interests of the community, by which the 
German tribes had hitherto been governed, and of which the 
people was at once the depository, the interpreter, and the 
executor, appear written laws, framed after the Roman model. 

However, the greater part of these codes sanction, after 
the conquest, the ancient usages of Germany. We find 
there that curious practice which leaves it to chance to 
decide upon innocence or guilt, judicial combat, the trial by 
boiling water, and by heated iron, which superstition accepts 
as a judgment of God. Among nations long accustomed to a 
life of violence and devastation, and whose daily occupation 
is war, the punishment of murder is left to the relations of 
the murdered man, unless they choose to accept a pecuniary 
compensation (wehrgeld), which is fixed by law according 
to the rank or dignity of the victim. Capital punishment is 
reserved for cowardice and treason, often even for theft, which 
is held to be the most dangerous of all perfidy among a wan- 
dering people, who have no other safeguard for their property 
but mutual confidence. 

67. Special characteristics of the different legislations. — 
These new codes come from the hand of the sovereign, some 
filled with national traditions, others with deep-set marks of 
foreign influence. They give a just idea of the respective 
situation of the different tribes with regard to Roman society. 
The Salic law, the law of the conquering tribe of Clovis, 
and which perhaps was reduced to writing before the con- 
quest, and merely reformed by the Merovingians, preserves 
the German type throughout, and is almost exclusively di- 
rected to repress the excesses of individual liberty by penal 
dispositions, without attempting to regulate the relations of a 
civil state which does not yet exist. The Allemanni con- 
stantly associated with the Salian Franks in their inroads 



78 LEGISLATION OF THE BARBARIANS. 

upon the empire : the Saxons, who only leave their forests to 
invade Britain, already abandoned by the Romans : the Lom- 
bards, those savage conquerors of Italy, who never treated 
the Romans but as a conquered people, scorn to borrow any 
thing from institutions which they despise, and preserve their 
old institutions, though modified by the spirit of Christianity. 
On the other hand, the law of the Ripuarian Franks, who 
had been long established upon the territories of the empire, 
begins to adopt some provisions of the Roman law with re- 
gard to enfranchisements and the sovereign power, which the 
Salic law does not even mention. The Burgundians, so re- 
markable among the Barbarians for the mildness of their 
manners, quickly submitted to the influence of Roman civil- 
ization. Their law, which the Gallo-Romans signed with 
the Burgundian counts, is filled with fragments of Roman 
laws, and presents an attempt at civil and political organiza- 
tion : it is the only one which punishes murder by death 
instead of a simple fine. 

The Gothic race, in frequent contact with the empire, 
received into the Roman territory, formed to the usages, the 
manners, and the wants of Roman society, preserves but a 
small portion of its primitive institutions. If the law of the 
Visigoths {forum judicum), drawn up by Euric and his suc- 
cessors, reproduces the German customs with regard to per- 
sons, it borrows most of the forms of the civil and criminal 
practice of the Romans ; and the influence of the clergy 
gives it that character of humanity which gradually becomes 
the distinction of modern legislation. A king of the Visi- 
goths, Alaric II., composes for his Roman subjects a collec- 
tion drawn from the pure soui'ces of Roman law {hrevia- 
rium alaricianwn). And finally, the law of the Visigoths, 
the production of the great Theodoric, is less a barbarous 
law, bearing the impress of the Roman character, than the 
Roman law itself, mingled with foreign traditions. 



GENERAL RESULTS OF THE INTASION. 79 

68. Personality of the laws. — The writing of these laws, 
a thing so contrary to all the primitive usages of the Barba- 
rians, became a necessity for them, after the conquest, if they 
wished to maintain their own institutions in presence of the 
deeply rooted institutions of the Romans. The Barbarians, 
too proud to accept the laws of the vanquished, too few and 
too insecure to impose upon the whole Roman population 
customs foreign to their ideas and manners, do not pretend to 
destroy the imperial legislation ; they allow it to remain be- 
side their own ; and both mingle, without yet uniting, like the 
two societies which the invasion has brought into contact 
without amalgamating them. Thus was established the prin- 
ciple of the personality of the land. Every one has a right 
to be judged by his national law ; and this right, constantly 
invoked, is maintained for several centuries, till constant con- 
tact, community of interests, and the action of a regular 
power, gradually effaced the original distinctions of origin 
and manners, and with them the distinctions of legislation. 
But from the beginning, all the members of the clergy, to 
whatever race they belonged, were subjected without distinc- 
tion to the Roman law ; and thus the first example of national 
unity was given by the church. 



§V. 

GENERAL RESULTS OF THE INVASION. 

69. Immediate hut secondary results of the invasion. — But 
the realization is still remote ; and the world, after the long 
throes of an invasion which had continued for more than a 
century, seems abandoned to universal confusion. Countries 
are laid waste and depopulated by the passage of these fero- 
cious conquerors, who leave behind them so many cities in 



80 GENERAL RESULTS OF THE INVASION. 

ashes, so many provinces devastated : agriculture, already 
ruined by the disastrous effects of the municipal organization, 
undergoes a terrible but final trial, and seems for a moment 
annihilated in the deserted fields. The subversion of all the 
relations which formerly existed between the provinces, des- 
troys commerce and industry : the light of ancient civiliza- 
tion, which nothing has yet replaced, grows dim on every 
side, and the loss of hundreds of precious monuments would 
seem to menace the world with the darkest ignorance, if the 
church was not to give a refuge in its convents to the wrecks 
of human science, and preserve them for modern society. 

70. Principal results. — Renovation of society. — Such were 
the immediate consequences of the invasion. But far graver 
and more enduring results are connected with the great com- 
motion of the universe. Although the invasion was partly 
pi'oduced by insensible changes of population, by the slow 
and successive introduction of numerous tribes, insulated in 
the midst of the Roman provinces ; although several of them, 
gradually formed to the imperial organization, submitted to 
its influence and gradually lost their primitive character; it 
is none the less true, that a great number of the Barbarian 
tribes, suddenly precipitated into the midst of the empire, 
overthrew from its very foundation a civilization which decay 
had rendered impotent, and that in the fifth century a univei'sal 
renovation was accomplished in Europe. The invasion threw 
a whole society into the Roman world. Instead of those ener- 
vated and degraded populations, which yielded to every flue- 
tuation and gave themselves up without resistance to the first 
invader, we see people of violent and savage manners, with 
independent and warlike customs, whose power was strong to 
build up as it had been strong to overthrow ; men with souls 
ferocious and warlike, but still fresh — an uncultivated but 
fruitful soil, in which the seeds of truth quickly take root. 
Already their rude virtues restored to the heai't somewhat of 



GENERAL RESULTS OF THE INVASION. 81 

its elevation and noble sentiments, and prepared it for the 
influence of Christianity, which was to soften the ferocity of 
their character without diminishing its energy, which was to 
prepare the creation of modern nationality by uniting, by the 
ideas of fraternity and spiritual association, the principle of 
order established in Roman society, with the principle of in- 
dividuality which German society had introduced. Every 
thing was changing in the civil and political form of nations. 
New idioms were uniting their vocabularies to the Latin, and 
thus forming the double element of modern languages. To 
the Roman administration the Barbarians substituted their 
own customs, or mingled them with it, and prepared from 
afar the great institutions of the middle ages, feudalism and 
chivalry. 

This fusion of the old and new world, this renovation of 
moral and political society, is the painful work of long years. 
Not every nation has yet found the soil where it will become 
definitively established ; but all have been united by the in- 
vasion in the vast space which is to contain them. They 
have brought with them all the materials to rebuild in the 
midst of the ruins which they had made. They have now 
to repair the evils of so many frightful shocks ; to establish 
and to organize themselves. 



4* 



CHAPTEE Y. 



THE EASTEEK EMPIEE TO THE CEUSADES. 



SUMMAEY. 



§ I. State of the empire during the reign of Arcadius. — Influence 
of Pulcheria under Theodosius II. — Marcian. — Religious disputes. — 
Wars with the Persians under Zeno and Anastasius.' — Justin I. — Justin- 
ian. — Exploits of Belisarius against the Persians and Vandals. — Beli- 
sarius and Nurses in Italy. — Disgrace of Belisarius. — Attack of the 
Bulgarians. — Government of Justinian. — Theodora. — Sedition at Con- 
stantinople. — Laws of Justinian. — Sources of Roman law at this epoch : 
Codes, Pandects, Institutes. — Novelle. 

§ II. State of the empire at the death of .Justinian. — Justin II., Ti- 
berius II., and Maurice contend against the Persians and Avars. — He- 
raclius. — Period of reverses. — The Persians conquered. — The Avars 
exterminated. — New reverses. — Victories and conquests of the Maho- 
metans. — Debasement of the empire under the descendants of Heraclius. 

Long period of religious disputes after the rise of the Iconoclasts 
under Leo the Isaurian. — Tyranny of Constantine Copronymus. — 
Irene represses the Iconoclasts condemned by the Council of Nice. 
— Schism of the Greek church. — Photius named patriarch of Constanti- 
nople. — Schism confirmed by the patriarch Cerularius. — Wars against 
the Bulgarians, the Hungarians, the Petchenegui, the Russians. — Glori- 
ous reigns of Nicephoras Phocas, John Zimisces, and Basil II, — Ac- 
cession of the Comneni. — Progress of the Seljuk Turks. — First 
crusade. 



WARS AGAINST THE PERSIANS. 83 



§L 



WARS AGAINST THE PERSIANS. JUSTINIAN : HIS LAWS. 

BELISARIUS. 

71. State of the empire under Arcadius. — The Empire of 
the East, which was destined to survive a thousand years the 
Empire of the West, whose fall it had hastened, had sustain- 
ed itself, though with but little glory, in the midst of the 
general commotion. 

The history of Arcadius is a history of ministerial in- 
trigues and the disastrous results of the quarrels of the palace. 
Eufinius, jealous of the brave and skilful StilicJio, who go- 
verned the West ; jealous of the eunuch Eiitropius, his rival 
in the favor of Arcadius, and who had placed the princess 
Eudoxia upon the throne, had just let loose the Barbarians 
upon the two empires when he perished by the hand of the 
Gainas (395), and perhaps at the instigation of Stilicho. The 
head of the odious minister who had publicly sold justice, 
even in the imperial palace, was carried through the streets 
of Constantinople on the end of a pike. His right hand, 
which had been cut off, accompanied the head. A stone had 
been put into his mouth, to keep it open ; and his lips seemed 
to ask the alms which the hand was held ready to receive : a 
popular satire of frightful energy against the exactions of 
power, Eutropius, the successor of his unfortunate rival, 
and more contemptible than he, was soon supplanted by 
Gainas, who himself perished by a popular revolt (401), 
while the feeble Arcadius abandoned his power to the em- 
press Eudoxia, whose scandalous licentiousness St. Chrysos- 
tom dared to reprove, even upon the throne. 

72. Theodosius II. and Ms successors. — Religious dis- 
putes. — Foreign wars. — Under Arcadius's son, Theodosius 



84 WARS AGAINST THE PERSIANS. 

II., or rather his sister Pulcheria, the empire enjoyed some 
internal tranquillity, if not splendor and power ; and the 
formation of the Theodosian code rendered this reign for ever 
memorable (408-450). Upon the death of Marcian, a no- 
ble emperor who had dared to brave Attila (v. sequel), and 
who had been called to the throne by Pulcheria (450), the 
religious disputes excited by the Nestorians and Eutychians 
(v. oh. vi. § i.) were prolonged for half a century, notwith- 
standing the edict of union (481) published by the emperor 
Zeno (474-491), successor of Leo I. and Leo II. (457-474), 
and in spite of the dangerous wars in which the empire was 
engaged with Persia (502-505). 

With the religious discussions were mingled civil troubles, 
the frivolous origin of which reveals the debasement of au- 
thority and the degradation of public manners. The drivers 
of the circus, distinguished by the colors of their liveries, 
formed two factions, the Hue and the green, divided by a fe- 
rocious rivalry, in which the people, the nobles, and even the 
emperor himself took a part. The hippodrome, converted 
into a political arena, became the theatre of bloody conflicts 
and redoubtable seditions. Anastasius the Silent (491) tried 
to appease the discord by dismissing the turbulent Isaurian 
guard, forbidding the combats between men and wild beasts, 
and suppressing an odious tax fatal to industry. But his rir 
diculous pretensions to theological science served only to in- 
crease the progress of heresy and the discontent of the orthodox. 
Meanwhile the Arabs were ravaging Mesopotamia, the Bul- 
garians had invaded Thrace, and the Persians, who had en- 
tered Syria, compelled the cowardly emperor to buy a peace 
for ten thousand pounds of gold. 

At last came Justin I., a Thracian peasant, successively 
tribune, count, general, senator, captain of the guards, and 
emperor (518-527), and who, with all his vices and barbari- 
ty, restored peace to the church and empire, protected his 



WARS AGAINST THE PERSIANS. 85 

frontiers against the Persians and the Bulgarians, and pre- 
pared in this obscure period the illustrious reign of his nephew 
Justinian. 

73. Accession of Justinian. — Exploits of Belisarius against 
the Persians and Vandals. — Justinian (527-565), in spite of 
his weakness of character, won a real glory by some great 
ideas, and still more by that fortunate combination of circum- 
stances which gave him men of genius to execute his projects. 
To reconstruct the old Roman empire by wresting the west- 
ern provinces from the Barbarians, and to establish its inter- 
nal organization upon a surer basis by founding a complete 
and regular system of legislation, was the double end which 
Justinian proposed and attained. 

A war with Persia, which had broken out under Justin, 
suspended for a while his enterprises against the west. Beli- 
sarius, whose name became so famous, began to make him- 
self known by his exploits against King Cabades, whom he 
conquered at Dara, and compelled to evacuate the provinces 
which he had invaded (528); but the unskilful general who 
replaced him retreated before the Persians, and Justinian 
gladly bought a peace from Chosroes, Cabades's successor, at 
the price of eleven thousand pounds of gold. 

Then all the strength of the empire was directed against 
the west, and Belisarius, with a fleet of six hundred sail and 
forty thousand men, was sent to reconquer Africa, where the 
Vandals, enervated by the softness of the climate, had lost 
their ancient vigor and courage. In 532, Belisarius landed 
in Africa to punish the usurpation of Gelimer, who had de- 
throned Hilderic, the ally of Justinian. The Vandal, defeated 
at Trecanium, gave himself up to the Romans after an ob- 
stinate defence, asking for a morsel of bread, of wh,ich he 
had not eaten for three months, a sponge to wash his wounds, 
and a lyre to sing his misfortunes. Carthage was soon taken, 
Sardinia and Corsica yielded to the conquerors, and Africa 



86 WARS AGAIHST THE PERSIANS. 

was restored to the empire by a campaign of three months. 
Gelimer had lost his kingdom without uttering any other com- 
plaint than the words of Scripture, Vanity of vanities — all is 
vanity. Belisarius returned to Constantinople to triumph, 
after the manner of the old Romans (534). The sacred vases 
of the temple of Jerusalem, which had been sent to Rome by 
Titus and carried to Carthage by Genseric, were borne in 
procession before him. The Vandal chiefs followed with 
their king Gelimer, clad in a mantle of purple. The con- 
queror marched on foot at the head of his brave companions. 

74. Conquest of Italy. — Last expedition and disgrace of 
Belisarius. — Death of Justinian. — It was then that Belisarius 
was sent against the Ostrogoths to avenge the death of Ama- 
lasuntha, and began the conquest of Italy, which was com- 
pleted twenty years afterwards b}^ the eunuch Narses (v. ch. 
ii. § i.). About the same time (552) the dissensions in the 
kingdom of the Visigoths in Spain restored to Justinian all 
the eastern part of the peninsula, which he took from the 
imprudent Athanagild, at whose call his armies had come 
(v. ch. ii. § ii.). 

During this period Belisarius had returned against his 
first enemies, the Persians, who at the call of the Armenians 
had crossed the Euphrates and ravaged Syria (540) : at the 
head of a shattered army, without provisions and without 
arms, the conqueror of Africa and Italy saved Jerusalem 
and Palestine, but could not reconquer Armenia. The un- 
grateful Justinian took from him his command and his digni- 
ties. Chosroes, freed from his most dangerous antagonist, 
continued the war, and in spite of the treachery of the king 
of Colchos, sold peace to the emperor and liberty of conscience 
to the Christians for a tribute of three thousand pieces of gold 
(562). 

It was the destiny of Belisarius to end his noble career a 
prey to envy and hatred, but always ready to serve the prince 



WARS AGAINST THE PERSIANS. 87 

who had disgraced him. While the Avars were founding a 
powerful empire upon the banks of the Danube, the Bulgarians 
crossed it on the ice, and passed the wall which the emperor 
Anastasius had built as a barrier against the inroads of the 
Barbarians. A Greek army that was sent against them was 
beaten, and Justinian trembled in his capital. Belisarius, 
restored to power by the approach of danger, armed the citi- 
zens, collected all the horses of the hippodrome to form a 
cavalry, and drove the Bulgarians beyond the Danube. No 
sooner was the danger passed than the service was forgotten, 
and the hero, sti'ipped of his possessions, was sent into exile. 
The saviour of the empire died in disgrace, and Justinian sur- 
vived him but a few months (565). 

75. Jusdnian's administration. — Theodora. — The internal 
administration of Justinian offers a singular mixture of gran- 
deur and weakness, of noble enterprises and miserable in- 
trigues. The arts, generously encouraged, combined to adorn 
the capital and the provinces with magnificent monuments. 
Amid twenty-five churches arose at Constantinople the church 
of St. Sophia, Justinian's pride, who exclaimed, while con- 
templating it — " Solomon, I have conquered you !" Bridges, 
aqueducts, and hospitals were built in the principal cities of 
the empire : a chain of eighty fortified towns was drawn 
from the confluence of the Save to the mouth of the Danube, 
to check the inroads of the Barbarians : fortresses were built 
or repaired on almost all the frontiers : Carthage and Antioch, 
destroyed by war and earthquakes, were repaired with mag- 
nificence. 

But at the same time a courtesan, Theodora, daughter of 
the bear-keeper of the amphitheatre, whom the feeble empe- 
ror had married and raised to the throne, exhausted the re- 
sources of the empire by a pompous prodigality, and ministers 
enriched themselves by falsifying the imperial constitutions 
for money. Belisarius was indebted in a great degree for 



88 WARS AGAINST THE PERSIANS. 

his good fortune to the influence of his wife Antonia, the 
despicable accomplice of the licentiousness of Theodora. The 
emperor, himself a passionate lover of the games of the circus, 
took a part in the disputes of the coachmen, and seemed to 
encourage the disorders to which he was near falling a vic- 
tim. A sedition, which began in the hippodrome, threw 
Constantinople into confusion for five days : the terrified Jus- 
tinian, upon the point of seeking safety in flight, was saved 
by the courage of Theodora: "You may fly," said she, "if 
you choose ; as for me, I know of no tomb more glorious 
than a throne." Justinian took courage, and the sedition was 
quelled by the massacre of thirty thousand of his subjects. 

76. Justinian's legislation. — The only indisputable glory 
of Justinian is his legislation. The science of law, which 
had been assiduously cultivated for centuries by the ablest 
lawyers that ever lived, had become almost inaccessible by 
the immensity of its domain. The laws of the Twelve Ta- 
bles, that ancient groundwork of Roman legislation, were 
regarded as a respected tradition, foreign to the wants of a 
new society. At the side of this civil law,th.e edicts of the 
praetors, following the march of civilization and constantly 
modified by jurisprudence, had aimed at harmonizing laws and 
customs ; while the interpretations of the learned deduced, 
with an admirable logic, the practical consequences of the 
philosophical principles of law, and were deservedly ranked 
among the most fruitful sources of legislation. And in fine, 
the emperors having concentrated the legislative power in 
their own persons, had multiplied constitutions, edicts, and 
decrees, according to the wants of their administration. 

To form a connected whole of these different materials ; 
to separate from a crowd of provisions which custom had re- 
jected, the laws which accorded with the spirit of the age ; 
to mark out sure and easy paths in this labyrinth where the 
most skilful became bewildered, was the conception which 



HERACLIITS AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 89 

has immortalized the name of Justinian. The Gregorian 
and Hermogenian codes, which contained the constitutions of 
the pagan emperors, and the code of Theodosius II., which 
contained the laws of the Christian emperors, had scarcely 
begun this great work. Justinian had the boldness to under- 
take, and the glory of accomplishing it. There are marks 
of haste here and there, and imperfections, which betray the 
impatience of the imperial legislator ; but it still remains 
and ever will remain the noblest monument of the empire. 
The most skilful jurists were set to the task, under the direc- 
tion of the quaestor Trihonian. In 528 appeared the Code, a 
collection of the imperial constitutions, in twelve books, which 
a few years afterwards was thoroughly revised ; in 533, the 
Pandects or Digest, a vast compilation, in which all the dif- 
ferent schools of jurisprudence were united, compared, or 
reconciled, and the Institutes, an elementary work, contain- 
ing a lucid and methodical exposition of the principles of the 
science, for the use of schools. The laws published by Jus- 
tinian himself during the last thirty years of his reign, were 
collected in the Novelle, which was enlarged by the constitu- 
tions of his successors. All of these laws tended to efface 
the last vestiges of the original republican organization, and 
to consecrate the principle of the absolute sovereignty of the 
emperor. 



§11. 

HERACLITTS AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 

77. State of the emph^e at the death of Justinian. — At the 
moment of Justinian's death, the empire of the East was at 
the highest point of its power ; a power which unfortunately 
was more apparent than real. In the east, Justinian, although 



90 HERACLIUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 

compelled to buy peace of the king of Persia, had re-estab- 
lished the ancient limits of the empire. In the west he had 
been compelled to leave in the hands of the Barbarians Great 
Britain, which the Romans had abandoned in the reign of 
Honorius, Gaul, which had fallen into the hands of the 
Franks, and the greater part of Spain, which had been occu- 
pied by the Visigoths : but still he had recovered Italy, Africa, 
and the eastern coasts of Spain, and Rome had once more 
become the second capital of the empire. But this sudden 
reunion of states which had been separated so long, lasts but 
a few years. The Lombards draw near the frontiers of Italy, 
which they are soon to invade : the Bulgarians have stationed 
themselves within reach of Constantinople : the Avars, who 
had followed the track of the Huns from Asia, establish 
themselves in Dacia, where the Goths had once settled. The 
Persians menace the eastern frontier, and the day is not far 
off when the Mahometan invasion will separate all the east- 
ern provinces from the empire for ever. 

78. Justin II. — Tiberius II. — Maurice. — It was under 
the reign of Justinian's successor, Justin II. (565-578), that 
Italy passed under the dominion of the Lombards, without an 
effort on the part of the Eastern empire to defend a territory 
which had cost her so much treasure and blood (v. ch. i. § i.). 
Tiberius II., assailed by the old Chosroes, sent against him 
the brave and skilful Maurice, who drove the Persians back 
to Assyria. The great king died with grief for his defeat ; 
but at the same time Tiberius had been compelled to buy the 
retreat of the Avars. Maurice, called to the throne after the 
death of Tiberius (582-602), was attacked at the same time 
by the Avars, who advanced to the walls of Constantinople, 
and the Persians, whom Barham, a revolted satrap, had arm- 
ed against the empire. Maurice, protector of Chosroes's 
heir, defeated the rebels, and disposed, with the authority of 
a master, of the sceptre of the Sassanides. The Avars were 



HERACLIUS AND HIS SUCCESSOKS. 91 

crushed in five battles ; but the centurion Phocas raised a 
revolt in the army, assassinated Maurice, and seized upon 
the crown (602). Immediately Chosroes II., who owed his 
sceptre to Maurice, declared war against the usurper, and 
under pretext of avenging his benefactor, invaded the pro- 
vinces of the empire. 

79. Heraclius. — Period of reverses. — Constantinople was 
hard pressed by the Barbarians on the south and on the north, 
when Heraclius, son of the governor of Africa (610), ascend- 
ed the throne, after having overthrown Phocas, who had 
polluted it during seven years by his cruelty and his licen- 
tiousness. Chosroes overran Syria, sacking Damascus, Anti- 
och, and Jerusalem, and putting to death those who refused 
to trample upon the cross and adore the sun, while his lieu- 
tenant Sain traversed Egypt as a conqueror, and returned 
with frightful rapidity to Asia Minor, to establish his garri- 
sons even in the city of Chalcedonia. Heraclius sued for 
peace : Chosroes replied by having the valiant Sain, who 
had seemed to listen favorably to the emperor's proposals, 
flayed alive, and marching on the capital (616). At the same 
time the Avars, excited by the Persians, resumed their arms, 
and appeared again under the walls of Constantinople (618). 
Heraclius, reduced to extremity, resolved to fly to Carthage ; 
but the patriarch retained him by his remonstrances, and the 
clergy contributed their wealth for the defence of the empire. 

80. Period of success, followed by new reverses. — The 
period of reverses was past, and that of wonderful success 
began. Heraclius bought off" the Avars and turned all his 
strength against the Persians. By a bold manoeuvre he sud- 
denly removed the seat of war to the extremity of Cilicia, 
and Chosroes, taken by surprise, retreated beyond the fron- 
tiers, twice defeated in his retreat, once at Issus, and once at 
Mossoul. The Avars, excited once more by the Persians, 
were nearly exterminated by the patrician Bonosius, and He- 



92 HEKACLIUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 

racliu^ reconquered Armenia and Syria, with the aid of the 
Khazar Turks, a tribe in alliance with the empire. Siroes, 
Chosroes's successor, begged for peace, and could only ob- 
tain it by restoring the conquered countries, the Roman 
eagles, and the true cross, which his father had taken from 
the Greeks (628). 

For a long time Persia will not attack the empire : but 
more redoubtable enemies have arisen on the south. Maho- 
met has let loose upon the world the wandering tribes of 
Arabia, with the Koran in one hand and the sword in the 
other (v. ch. vii. § iii.). The eastern provinces of the em- 
pire are invaded first ; and Heraclius, who had slumbered 
too long in a fatal security, soon sees a great battle decide the 
conquest of Syria and of Egypt. 

81. Degradation of the empire under the descendants of 
Heraclius. — The limits of the empire no longer reached be- 
yond Asia Minor. Heraclius, fallen from his glory, died 
(641) without having avenged his defeats, and left the throne 
to a long sei'ies of princes whose names polluted the annals 
of the degraded empire. He had just seen the Visigoths of 
Spain wrest from his dominion a portion of the conquests of 
Justinian. 

The family of Heraclius becomes extinct after half a 
century of crimes and infamy (641-711), during which ten 
princes contend for the bloody sceptre, and leave the frontiers 
open to every attack of the Barbarians. It is the prelude 
of a period no less deplorable, in which the empire contends 
for four hundred years -against the repeated attacks of Bar- 
barians and internal dissensions fomented by religious dis- 
putes, fruit of the restless subtlety of the Greek mind in its 
decay. 

82. The Iconoclasts. — Religious quarrels under Leo the 
Isaurian and his successors. — From 717 to 780, the throne 
was occupied by three sovereigns of the Isaurian race, Leo 



HERACLIUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 93 

III., Constantine Copronymus (741), and Leo IV. (775-780), 
his son. The worship of images, which formed a fruitful 
source of gain for the monks and clergy, had taken deep 
root among the people ; favored too, perhaps, by the abun- 
dance of works of art and an exhaustless store of relics. 
Leo the Isaurian opposed this corruption with all the vehe- 
mence of his character, and the persecution into which he 
allowed his passion to carry him, won for him and for his 
successors, who unfortunately imitated him in his violence, 
the name of Iconoclasts, or breakers of images. In Italy, 
the authority of the pope was opposed to that of the emperor, 
and the Romans, rising against the imperial prefect, pro- 
claimed the republic and placed the pope at its head. Leo 
III. defended Constantinople against the Saracens, and his 
successor fought bravely at the head of his troops upon the 
banks of the Euphrates and of the Danube. But their names 
have been branded in Catholic annals as heretics and tyrants. 
Leo IV., less energetic as a prince, but no less violent in his 
opposition to the worship of images, fell a victim to his own 
zeal and the vengeance of his wife, the infamous Irene. 
One of the first acts of Irene, who reigned as guardian of 
her son, was to re-establish the worship of images, and have 
it confirmed by a council which she assembled at Nice (787). 
Her zeal was rewarded by the approbation of the church, 
and though suspected of the murder of her husband, and 
acknowledged to have had her son put to death under circum- 
stances of revolting cruelty, she has been canonized in the 
East as a saint. But the period was approaching in which a 
schism more fatal than that of the Iconoclasts was to deprive 
the Catholic church of a large portion of its ancient inherit- 
ance. 

83. Schism of the Greek church. — The imperial throne 
was filled by Michel the Drunkard (842-867), who boasted 
that he had taken Nero for his model, and who refused to 



94 HERACLIUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 

listen to the messenger who brought him tidings of an in- 
vasion at the most critical moment of a race. To free 
himself from all opposition, he shut up his mother Theodora 
in a convent, and removed the patriarch Ignatius to make 
room for Photius, the captain of his guards. Photius was a 
man of profound learning, but his election, though approved 
by a cabal, was condemned by the pope (Nicholas I.), who 
fulminated an excommunication against him (858). Photius 
replied by citing the acts of a council in which the pope him- 
self had been excommunicated, and disputing the authority 
of the See of Rome over the Bulgarians, who had just been 
converted to Christianity. 

The accession o^ Basil the Macedonian (867), and the 
convocation of the eighth oecumenic council, disturbed for a 
moment the triumph of Photius, who was compelled to give 
way to Ignatius. The empire enjoyed a moment of repose, 
and the emperor consecrated a few peaceful years to a reform 
of the financial system, and adapting the laws of Justinian 
to the wants of the epoch. The collection of the numerous 
compilations of Justinian, translated into Greek and methodi- 
cally arranged, has immortalized the name of Basil. Still 
this prince prepared the way for new dissensions. Upon the 
death of the patriarch, Photius succeeded in regaining the im- 
perial favor and the See of Constantinople (879). 

The schism was not yet complete. Under Leo the Phi- 
losopher Photius was removed and condemned to lose his 
eyes. But the division between the two churches had 
widened during these miserable quarrels, and in 1054 the 
papal legates withdrew from Constantinople, leaving the 
Greek church to its own doctrines and its own rulers. 

84. Contests ivith the Bulgarians, the Sclavonians, the 
Franks, ^c. — Meanwhile the empire had sustained a weari- 
some contest against enemies which seemed to multiply as its 
powers of resistance decreased. The Bulgarians, converted 



HEEACLIUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 95 

to Christianity (about 861), had discontinued their ravages : 
but they demanded, sword in hand, posts and factories for 
their rising commerce, and irritated by the annoyances to 
which their merchants were exposed from the imperial offi- 
cers, advanced several times to the walls of Constantinople 
(888-923). The Sclavonians, who were established in 
Illyria, menaced Macedonia. The Petchenegui and the 
fierce Hungarians, descending from the shores of the Baltic, 
advanced along the banks of the North Sea and the Danube, 
compelling both the Bulgarians and Greeks to pay tribute 
(924). The Khazar Turks remained faithful to their old 
alliance ; but the Russians, who had shaken off the yoke, 
sent their ships to the Bosphorus (865), burnt the faubourgs 
of Constantinople (904), and forced Leo the Philosopher to 
promise a tribute, which his successors still continued to 
pay forty years after. And finally, the Saracens of Africa, 
masters of Sicily, Sardinia, and Crete (v. eh. vii.), rav- 
aged the coasts of Greece, and the progress of the Arabs 
in Asia Minor was only checked by the decay of the ca- 
liphate. 

85. Glorious reigns of Phocas and Zimisces. — Basil II. — 
Accession of the Comneni. — In the midst of these obscure 
contests, which generally terminated in the submission of the 
emperors, three men, Nicephoras Phocas, John Zimisces, and 
Basil II., are entitled to an honorable mention in history. 
Phocas, called to the empire by the choice of the soldiers 
(963), forces back the Bulgarians on the north, drives the pi- 
rates from the island of Crete, retakes Cyprus, and subdues 
Cilicia. His successor, John Zimisces (969-976), for a long 
time the companion of his victories, crosses Syria, makes the 
caliph of Bagdad tremble in his capital, and returns in tri- 
umph to Constantinople. Basil 11. (976-1025), formed in 
the school of these two great men, crushes, after twenty-five 
campaigns, the nation of the Bulgarians (1019), and destroys 



96 HERACLIUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 

the kingdom of the Khazars, who had joined the enemies of 
the empire. 

But the transient splendor of these three reigns is eclipsed 
after the death of Basil. Komanus Argyrus (1028-1034) 
atones for some slight success against the Arabs by a bloody 
defeat (v. ch. ii.). After him two corrupt women, Zoe and 
Theodora, prostituted the purple to unworthy favorites, and 
the race of Basil the Macedonian was extinguished in infamy. 

A new family ascends the throne with Isaac Camnenes 
(1056), whose nephew Alexis (1081), raised to the empire 
after long years of internal dissension and reverses in Asia, 
where the Seljuk Turks had subdued both the provinces of 
the caliphate and of the empire (v. ch. vii. § viii.), invokes 
in his distress the succor of the West, and excites the first 
crusade. 



CHAPTER VI. 



CHUEOH. LETTEES AND AETS. 



SUMMARY. 

§ I. State of the church at the moment of the great invasion of the em- 
pire and among the Barbarians. — The Catholics persecuted by the Arians 
among the Visigoths. — Euric. — Amalaric. — Oppression of the CathoHcs 
in the kingdom of the Vandals. — Conversion of the Suevi ; of the Visi- 
goths ; of the Lombards. — Conversion of the Franks under Clovis ; of the 
Burgundians. — Conversion of Ireland. — The monk St. Augustin sent by 
Fope Gregory the Great to the Anglo-Saxons. — Ethelbert, king of Kent, 
embraces Christianity. — Conversion of the whole of Great Britain. — Irish 
and Anglo-Saxon missionaries among the Germans. — St. Wilfred and 
St. Wilbrod. — Apostolic labors and martyrdom of St. Boniface. 

Christianity in the East. — Persecution in Persia. — Progress of Nesto- 
rianism. — The missionary Olopen founds a Christian establishment in 
China. — Decay of the heretical and schismatic churches in the East. — 
Paganism still subsists in the schools of philosophy and in the country. 

Heresies from the fourth to the eighth century. — Error of Nestorius. 
— Heresy of Eutyches. — Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism. — Schism of 
the Donatists. — Iconoclasts. 

Councils of Ephesus, of Constantinople, of Chalcedonia, of Carthage, 
of Nice. 

Begiiming of monastic and cenobitic life in the East and West. — St. 
Paul the hermit ; St. Anthony. — St. Martin of Tours. — History of St. 
Benedict of Nursia : foundation of the order of Benedictines. — Their 
rule ; utility of monasteries. 

5 



98 STATE OF THE CHURCH. 

§ II. Pagan literature in the fifth and sixth centuries, — Fall of the 
school of Alexandria. — Character of Pagan poetry. — Claudian. — Rutili- 
us. — Complete decay. — Pagan historians : Zozimus, Procopius. — Gram- 
marians of Alexandria. 

Christian literature. — The fathers. — Lactantius, St. Athanasius, St. 
Basil : St. Gregory of Nazianze. — St. Jerome and St. Ambrose. — Series 
of fathers of the Greek church. — Si. John Chrysostorn ; his exile and 
death. — St. Cyril of Alexandria. — Theodoret of Cyr. — John of Damas- 
cus. — Series of fathers of the Latin church. — St. Augustin ; character 
of his genius. — Salvian ; his book on the government of God. — St. Avi- 
tus of Vienne ; his Paradise lost. — Claudian Mamertus ; St. Hilarius. — 
Dyonisius the Little.— St. Leo and St. Gregory popes. 

Christian historians. — Orosius, Cassiodorus, Jornandes, Socrates, So- 
zomenus, Sulpicius, Severus, Gregory of Tours, the Venerable Bede. 

Christian poets. — Sidonius ApoUinarius, Synesius, Pnadentius, Pros- 
pero of Aquitania, Fortunatus of Poictiers. 

Faint progress of science. 

Art at the beginning of the Middle Ages. 



§1. 

STATE OF THE CHURCH IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST. 

86. State of the church at the moment of the great invasion. 
— Christianity had passed through the epoch of persecutions, 
and spread with the blood of its martyrs. Triumphant with 
Constantine, and supported by the civil authority, it continues 
the accomplishment of its divine mission through trials of a 
new species. The Barbarians begin to parcel out the em- 
pire : Christianity penetrates their forests, or imposes baptism 
as the price of their victory, and subdues them by the moral 
force of truth. 

Old men and weak girls whom they had captured in their 
inroads, were the first instruments which God employed for 
the diffusion of his word. Soon Constantine declares him- 
self the protector of all Christians, both within and without 



STATE OF THE CHURCH. 99 

the empire, and endeavoi's to secure the conversion of the 
Barbarians. 

But still Christianity, at the epoch of the great invasion, 
had made but little progress in the rural districts, where the 
old superstitions still prevailed to such an extent that pagan 
and peasant were synonymous terms (jpagani). Even in the 
most enlightened cities, many enemies of the Christian religion 
were still united under the banners of philosophical polythe- 
ism. The schools of Athens and Alexandria counted nume- 
rous disciples ; and in the old capital of the empire men had 
not yet ceased to invoke those religious remembrances which 
recalled their former glory, and the Senate still demanded 
the statue of victory. 

But the Gospel had already penetrated beyond the fron- 
tiers of the empire, further than the Roman eagle. The 
Negus of Abyssinia had just been converted with his whole 
people by the preaching of St. Frumentius, and Christianity 
had survived forty years of persecution in the remotest pro- 
vinces of the Persian empire. In the west, the Goths had 
been converted, the Burgundians, the Suevi, the Vandals, the 
Lombards had received the Gospel before they invaded the 
empire. But unfortunately they had adopted the doctrines 
of Arius, and with them a bitter hostility for those of the 
Catholics, with whom their adventurous life soon brought them 
in contact. 

87. Persecutions of the Catholics among the Visigoths and 
the Vandals. — Euric, king of the Visigoths and an ardent 
Arian, attacked with inveterate hostility the doctrines of the 
council of Nice. " Under his reign," says Sidonius Apolli- 
narius, " the churches fell to ruins, the doors were torn off, 
the entrance of the holy place was closed only by brambles 
and thorns : wild beasts made their dwelling in the sanctua- 
ry, and cattle fed upon the grass that gi'ew around the altar." 
The bishops who had escaped exile were not replaced at their 



100 STATE OF THE CHURCH. 

death, and the priesthood died with them. Amalaric perse- 
cuted Catholicism even in his wife, a daughter of Clovis ; 
and the unhappy princess, unable to support the violence of 
her husband any longer, called on her brothers to avenge 
her. After a few years of calm, Leovegild signalized his 
hatred against the Catholic religion by the execution of his 
own son who had abjured Arianism, and driving from their 
sees the bishops who had adhered to the doctrines of Nice. 

The Catholics of the African church, which but a little 
while before had been so flourishing, might fancy that the 
days of the crudest of the emperors had returned again. 
Genseric had begun the persecution by sending his soldiers 
to break up the assemblies of the Catholics by blows. Under 
his son Huneric, more than forty thousand Catholics were 
put to death in less than two years, and a great many had 
their hands and their tongues cut off. St. Eugenius, bishop 
of Carthage, having refused to close the churches, the king 
placed guards at the door, armed with iron hooks, with which 
they tore off the skin and hair of those who came to attend 
divine worship. These fanatical cruelties, as well as the 
ravages which had marked their entrance into the empire, 
made the name of the Vandals a term of reproach. But 
persecution served, as it always does, to hasten the propaga- 
tion of truth. A Moorish tribe of the interior of Africa was 
converted by four exiles, whom the Vandals punished for the 
success of their preaching, by crushing them under the 
wheels of a chariot. 

Wherever the Catholics obtained the supremacy, they 
were as intolerant and almost as bitter as their opponents. 
The rights of the mind were unknown, and centuries were 
yet to pass before men could be taught that individual respon- 
sibility implies freedom of conscience. 

88. Conversion of the Suevi, the Visigoths, the Lombards, 
and the Franks. — Arianism maintained the supremacy in 



STATE OF THE CHURCH. 101 

Africa till the conquest of Belisarius, and among the Heruli 
and Ostrogoths during the whole duration of their dominion. 
Most of the other Germans were converted to Catholicism 
during the second half of the sixth century. In 551, Caria- 
ric, king of the Suevi, having heard during the illness of his 
son Theodoric of the miracles of St. Martin, made a vow 
that he would adopt the doctrines of this saint, if his son was 
restored to health. The young prince recovered, and the 
king not doubting but what it was all owing to the miracu- 
lous intercession of the saint, became a Catholic with all his 
people (560). The Visigoths soon followed the example of 
the Suevi, whom they had just subdued ; and under Recarede 
the Catholic, brother of a martyr, the council of Toledo 
solemnly consecrated the return of all Spain to the Catholic 
faith (589). A few years afterwards, the Lombards, who had 
in the beginning displayed great rigor against the Catholics, 
yielded, with their king Agilulphus, to the mild influence of 
the pious Theodelinda. But still their faith long retained 
traces of their heresy and even of paganism. 

It was only with the invasion that Christianity penetrated 
among the Franks, the Scots, the Angles, and the Saxons. 
The Franks, who were converted with Clovis at the battle 
of Tolbiac, became at the same time Christians and orthodox 
(497). Clovis and his sons, conquerors of the Arian Bur- 
gundians, compelled them to renounce their heresy, which 
was soon to disappear from Gaul. 

89. Conversion of Ireland. — The most remarkable con- 
version was, perhaps, that of the Britannic Isles. The Anglo- 
Saxons carried with them from Germany all the ferocity of 
the worship of Odin, and proscribed Christianity, which had 
already taken root in Great Britain. But they could not 
prevent St. Patrick, who had been prisoner in the land during 
his youth, from returning there as a missionary, by order of 
Pope Celestin (432), and preaching the gospel to the savage 



102 STATE OF THE CHURCH. 

inhabitants. At his death (about 465), several bishoprics, 
convents, and seminaries were already founded in Ireland, 
which soon, as the Island of Saints, was to send forth ardent 
apostles of the faith. From the sixth century this island was 
the country which contained the greatest number of pious 
establishments and the most zealous religious corporations. 
There were no better schools in the west than those of the 
convents of Ireland ; that, for example, of St. Finian, found- 
ed in 530, and that of Lismore, which St. Cataldus established 
in 640. While the west of Europe was given up a prey to pil- 
lage and suffering, this island, defended by the sea, offered a 
sure asylum to the friends of science and monastic life. The 
strangers who emigrated not only from England but from the 
continent, I'eceived from the Irish an eager and gratuitous 
hospitality, and were provided with all the means of instruc- 
tion. And on the other hand, the pious inhabitants, learned 
for their age, went upon distant missions to found or reform 
convents, and became the civilizers of most of the countries 
of Europe. 

90. Conversion of the Scotch and Anglo-Saxons. — The 
tnonk Augustin. — It was an Irishman, St. Colomban, that 
preached the gospel to the Scotch of the north, and founded 
numerous churches among them (563-597) : a British bishop 
by the name of Ninian had already carried it to the Scots of 
the south. The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons was the work 
of Pope St. Gregory the Great, as that of the Irish had been 
of Pope Celestin. Gregory being struck with the fine ap- 
pearance of some Saxon slaves in the market at Rome, con- 
ceived the design of converting their nation to Christianity, 
and shortly after his accession to the pontificate dispatched 
Augustin, a monk, with forty companions, to carry the gospel 
into England. Augustin landed in the isle of Thanet, and 
sent word to Ethelbert, king of Kent, that he was come from 
a distant country to bring him the promise of eternal happi- 



STATE OF THE CHURCH. 103 

ness and a kingdom without end, if he would accept his doc- 
trines. The king's wife was a Christian, and the king was 
easily persuaded to listen to the missionaries ; but he would 
not receive them any where but in the open air, for fear of 
enchantment. He listened to them with a favorable ear, and 
soon after was baptized, moved by the purity of their lives 
and the ardor of their zeal (596). Augustin chose Canter- 
bury for the metropolis of the English church. The conver- 
sion of the island was soon completed, and all the kings and 
people of the heptarchy received the Catholic faith. 

91. Catholic missions in Germany. — St. Boniface. — This 
church, founded directly by the Holy See, was more strongly 
attached to the preservation of Catholic unity. It was from 
Rome that the apostles of Germany set out, during the seventh 
and eighth centuries, upon their perilous mission. St. Rupert 
had already founded there the see of Salzburgh (about 618) ; 
and some Irishmen, St. Colomban, St. Gall, and St. Kilian, 
had preached the word of God upon the banks of the Rhine, 
when the Anglo-Saxons, Wilfred, Wilbrod, and Winfred, 
completed this evangelical task under the auspices of the 
Heristals. St. Wilfred and St. Wilbrod were the apostles 
of the savage fishermen of Frisia and Holland (690-738): 
Winfred, better known under the name of St. Boniface, which 
recalls all his good deeds, succeeded St. Wilbrod, of whom 
he had shared the ministry and profited by the lessons. Bo- 
niface converted the Thuringians and Hessians, living among 
them by the work of his hands, and sharing their poverty 
and toil. The deepest rooted superstitions yielded to his 
courage. At Geissmar, in Hesse, there was a sacred ti'ee 
which all the people venerated. Boniface took in his own 
hands an axe to cut it down, while the pagans gathering around 
him expected to see flames from heaven fall upon his sacrile- 
gious head. The tree fell, and the Hessians were converted. 
The churches which St. Boniface founded became a centre of 



104 STATE OF THE CHURCH. 

re-union for the inhabitants who had been scattered over the 
country. Villages and cities were formed, and in old Ger- 
man the same word was used for inass and assemhly. The 
pope, filled with admiration at the prodigies accomplished by 
Boniface, gave him the direction of the rising church of Ba- 
varia, and made him bishop of Mayence. But the indefati- 
gable old man soon resigned his dignity to return to the 
dangers of his mission. The crown of martyrdom awaited 
him in Frisia, where he was massacred with his companions, 
after having converted several thousand idolaters (755). 

92. Christianity in the East. — Persecutions in Persia. — 
Nestorian missions. — In the East, these apostolic labors, fa- 
vored by the zeal of the emperors of Constantinople, gradu- 
ally spread the reign of Christianity beyond the frontiers of 
the empire. In the fourth century Armenia, the Caucasian 
provinces, and a great part of Arabia and Persia, were convert- 
ed to Christianity. But Sapor 11. , king of Persia, accusing the 
Christians of the western provinces of preferring the dominion 
of the Greek empire to his, gave the signal of a frightful perse- 
cution, which lasted more than a century (330-450). Un- 
heard of punishments were invented to shake the constancy 
of believers. Martyrs were thrown, with their feet and 
hands tied, into ditches filled with rats and mice, who ate 
them alive. All the east admired the firmness of St. James, 
whose limbs were all torn off, one after the other. Still it 
was not from persecution that the greatest danger came : 
the progress of the church was checked by the development 
of the famous heresy of Nestorius. 

A priest of Edessa persuaded the king of Persia, that as 
long as his subjects had the same symbol with the Greeks 
they could never be sincerely devoted to him, while Nestori- 
anism would raise an insurmountable barrier between the 
two people. Yielding to these insinuations, the king lent all 
his influence to the Nestorians, who, not contented with estab- 



STATE OF THE CHURCH. 105 

lishing themselves in Persia, tried to propagate their doctrines 
in other countries. But their efforts were vain, in spite of 
the ardor of the new sectaries, and especially of the mis- 
sionary Olopen, who travelled through Asia and penetrated 
into China about the year 635. The emperor had the books 
which Olopen brought with him examined ; declared that the 
doctrine was good, and allowed it to be spread in his states. 
A church served by twenty-one priests was built in the capi- 
tal of the Chinese empire, and Olopen's successors continued 
without obstacle the work which they had so intrepidly begun. 
But whatever may be the cause, their doctrines made but 
little progress, and their church soon fell to decay. 

93. Last vestiges of idolatry in the schools of philosophy 
and, in the country. — Idolatry, though conquered, still found 
an asylum during the fifth and sixth centuries among some 
wits, full of the poetical traditions of mythology, and in the 
schools of philosophy, the last of which was not closed till 
the reign of Justinian. But it was still more under the shel- 
ter of ignorance that it defended the wrecks of its empire. 
At the end of the sixth century Pope St. Gregory wrote to 
the king of Austrasia, Theodebert, to induce him to abolish 
the superstitious customs of some inhabitants of the country, 
who still worshipped idols, adored sacred trees in the depths 
of forests, and sacrificed animals upon the altars of demons. 
The same pope had not been able to do away with the last 
vestiges of idolatry in the vicinity of Rome. In 586 a mar- 
ble dragon, clad in skins, was still worshipped in the duchy 
of Beneventum, and the duke of Spoleto made open profes- 
sion of idolatry. In the same country the council of Rheims 
condemned to public penance those who had taken auguries 
or eaten with pagans meats offered to false gods. A great 
number of superstitions wholly pagan were still to survive a 
long time, and to be perpetuated through the middle ages in 
spite of the sovereign influence of Christianity. Long ages 

5* 



106 STATE OF THE CHURCH. 

and the divine force of the gospel were required to extirpate 
usages which had been deeply rooted by four thousand years 
of en'or. 

94. Heresies from the fourth to the eighth century. — This 
period was fertile in religious disputes, which Rome con- 
demned as heresies, and which were closely connected with 
the political revolutions. Arianism was a cause of bitter 
hatred between the Visigoths and the Franks, the Lombards 
and the Italians ; and the rapid reverses and sudden success 
of the empire in the east were owing as much to the disputes 
about the doctrines of Nestorius as to the arms of the hostile 
monarchs. Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, refused 
to acknowledge the Virgin as mother of God. Oriental sub- 
tlety seized eagerly upon this pretext, and a large sect was 
soon formed, which spread beyond the borders of the empire, 
and took root in Persia (431) and Egypt, and throughout all 
the east. Eutyches asserted that there was but one nature in 
Christ (monophysites), and had his doctrines approved by the 
council of Ephesus, which the Catholics consequently stig- 
matized as a conventicle. 

In the west a British monk by the name of Pelagius (410) 
denied the dogma of original sin and the necessity of grace ; 
asserting that man could live without sin, and win salvation 
by his own virtue. This doctrine spread in Gaul, Great 
Britain, the east, and Africa, where it yielded to the eloquent 
voice of St. Augustin, or was reduced to the more timid 
form of Semi-Pelagianism. 

No one can deny that the Arian controversy was one of 
deep importance, and touched the most vital questions of 
Christianity. But Africa was divided by a dispute which we 
can hardly understand. Two competitors claimed the arch- 
bishopric of Carthage, Donatus and Cecilius. Constantino, 
after a long examination (312-315), decided in favor of Ce- 
cilius. Four hundred bishops appealed against his decision, 



STATE OF THE CHURCH. 107 

and a party was formed under the name of Donatists, which 
maintained the claims of Donatus with furious zeal, condemn- 
ing their opponents to eternal perdition, and fancying that 
to die in such a cause was to win the ci'own of martyrdom. 
Africa was devastated for three centuries by the ravages of 
these madmen, and the history ^of the Circumcellions, by 
which name they were finally distinguished, is one of the 
most singular pages in this singular period. 

95, To all these enemies the church opposed the power- 
ful arm of her general councils. The councils of Ephesus 
(431) and Constantinople (553) condemned Nestorianism : 
the heresy of Eutyches was anathematized at Chalcedonia 
(551). A council of Carthage condemned the doctrines of 
Pelagius on their first appearance (412), and the second 
council of Nice (787) gave the final blow to the iconoclasts, 
by re-establishing the honorary worship of images. But 
the decrees of this council met a severe opposition in the 
west, where popular feeling had fixed upon bones and relics 
as objects of veneration, instead of statues and paintings, 
which were neither as abundant there as in the east nor so 
much esteemed. The council of Frankfort rejected the de- 
crees of the council of Nice, and were supported by the au- 
thority of Charlemagne, who dictated the Carolinian books 
against the worship of images. The pope was sorely puz- 
zled to reconcile the contradictory decision of the two infal- 
lible councils ; but the protection of Charlemagne was not a 
thing to be lightly thrown away, and by quibbles, and hair- 
splitting, and ingenious explanations, the two synods were 
made to stand peacefully together as equal expressions of the 
will of the supreme church. 

96. Beginnings of monastic life in the east and west. — 
Christian ascetics and hermits had already been known from 
the end of the second century. They were mostly Syrians 
and Egyptians, men whose temperaments and manners led 



108 STATE OF THE CHURCH. 

them to the wildest acts of self-denial, and who perhaps 
thought that in a period of persecution, they could do nothing 
better than to renounce human society altogether, and pass 
their lives in deserts. Man, whose natural development is 
hastened by the alternation of society and solitude, becomes 
a wild beast in the desert, and these holy men seem to have 
hastened the transformation, by taking the devil with them 
for a companion, tormenting themselves by a thousand imagi- 
nary terrors, till they came to believe that their great adver- 
sary was ever present, and ever lying in wait for them in 
some new and dangerous form. St. Anthony was the first 
(305) to give something of a more human cast to this sad 
form of piety, by reducing their religious exercises to definite 
rules, and making them live either together, or at least near 
enough to assist one another in their physical as well as in their 
spiritual wants. Pacomius, another Egyptian (340), built 
convents for the ascetics to live in together, and established a 
rule for them to live by. Religious instruction and self- 
support were their chief occupations. A very little work 
was sufficient to provide for all their physical wants, and 
fasting, which is much easier to bear in Egypt and Syria 
than in Europe, was one of their chief religious exercises. 
Their number increased so rapidly that over fifty thousand, 
between monks and nuns, were soon found in Egypt alone. 
A single residence often contained several thousand, and 
there was hardly a man eminent for piety, or a bishop of high 
standing to be found, who had not received his first instruc- 
tions from these ascetics and lived some time among them. 
As yet they were not bound by any irrevocable vow, either 
to a particular convent or a particular rule. Their mode 
of life was far more rigorous than that of the monks who 
rose after them in the west, but their real liberty was far 
greater. Egypt, Syria, and Pontus were the countries in 
which they flourished most. Even in Asia Minor they met 



STATE OF THE CHURCH. 109 

with little approbation, and still less in Europe. The colder 
climates of Italy and France were less suited to such a form 
of fanaticism, Syro-Egyptian diet less acceptable, and the 
population itself too equally spread to leave room for those 
savage solitudes in which they delighted most. 

The oldest community of Cenobites in the west was es- 
tablished in Gaul by St. Martin of Tours (about 370). In 
the fifth century St. Honoratus and St. Cassian founded the 
monasteries of Lerins and Marseilles (405-408), which be- 
came the asylums of science and the nurseries of the apos- 
tles of that barbarous age. That of Lerins became especially 
famous by its schools, and gave rise to the order of monks 
of St. Claude, who reduced the valleys of the Jura to culti- 
vation. 

97. Foundation of the order of Benedictines. — Towards 
the end of the fifth century, St. Benedict of Nursia in Tus- 
cany, shocked at the corruption of the young men of Rome, 
abandoned a rich and illustrious family to take refuge in a 
cave in the midst of the mountains. He was soon joined by 
a few solitaries, and they supported themselves by clearing 
and cultivating the surrounding country. The progress of 
the pious colony alarmed the last defenders of paganism, and 
Benedict, driven from his retreat, established himself with 
his companions on Mount Cassino, where the peasants of the 
neighborhood still came to offer sacrifice in an ancient temple 
of Apollo. Benedict broke the idol and converted its igno- 
rant worshippers. With the aid of these new Christians he 
built a vast monastery on the site of the temple, and this was 
the origin of the celebrated order of Benedictines. 

The rule of St. Benedict was approved by Gregory the 
Great in 595, and became the common law of all the con- 
vents of the west. It divided the life of the cloister between 
labor and prayer. After having passed a part of the day in 
clearing the wastes, in draining marshes, and fertilizing the 



110 LETTERS AND ARTS TILL CHARLEMAGNE. 

land, the Benedictines returned to their cells to study holy 
books or copy ancient manuscripts. While the Barbarians 
were laying waste all the provinces of the empire, the con- 
vents, protected by their sacred character, were preserving 
for better days the precious remains of antiquity. It is to the 
Benedictines that France owes those historical collections from 
which modern science has drawn its richest treasures. " It 
was a consolation," says Voltaire, in speaking of the order 
of St. Benedict, " that there were asylums like these in which 
men could escape from the oppression of the Goths and Van- 
dals, and find refuge in the repose of the cloister from tyran- 
ny and war. What little knowledge was left was pi'eserved 
in the convents ; and some useful inventions came from 
them. Moreover, these men tilled the ground, sang the 
praises of God, lived soberly, practised hospitality, and by 
their examples may have mitigated somewhat of the ferocity 
of this barbarous age." 

The good done by these institutions naturally awakened 
the gratitude of the faithful ; and their revenues were in- 
creased by numberless donations, as well as by the establish- 
ment of tithes, voluntary at first, but soon prescribed by law. 
But this increase of wealth brought with it the seeds of grave 
abuses, which increasing from age to age, imposed at last 
the necessity of important reforms. 



§11. 



SUMMARY VIEW OF LETTERS AND THE ARTS TILL CHARLE- 
MAGNE. 

98. Fall of the pagan school of Alexandria. — Literature, 
whose destinies are connected with all the great political and 
religious revolutions of the world, followed it in the fourth 



LETTERS AND ARTS TILL CHARLEMAGNE. Ill 

century in the adoption of Christianity, Pagan philosophy, 
already driven from Rome by Constantine, and restoi'ed for a 
moment by Julian, was rapidly sinking, in spite of the efforts 
of its last advocates. The school of new Platonists or eclec- 
tics of Alexandria, which Constantine had closed and Julian 
re-opened, was shaken again by Theodosius. At the begin- 
ning of the fifth century the new Platonists removed to Athens, 
where their lessons preserved somewhat of their early bril- 
liancy. But in 529 their schools were finally closed by order 
of Justinian. These men who attempted to oppose Chris- 
tianity by the systems of Plato and the secret sciences of the 
east, were not wanting in learning. The eclecticism of Al- 
exandria found a brilliant interpreter in the beautiful Hypatia 
(d. 415), daughter of the mathematician Theon, and in the 
learned Proclus (d. 487), philosopher, astronomer, geometri- 
cian, and poet. But the principle of life was wanting in 
their doctrines, and when they fell, it was rather by the 
strength of public opinion than by the imperial decrees. 

99. Pagan literaiure — poetry, history, <^c. — Profane poet- 
ry, which vainly endeavors to revive the superannuated fables 
of polytheism, is but a colorless imitation of the ancients. 
Claudian alone (5th cent.), who is distinguished by the elevation 
of his thoughts and his graceful descriptions, sang the hero 
of his age in verses which are still admired, although his 
style runs too often into declamation, and his rhythm is too 
monotonous. The Gaul Rutilius Numantianus (420), a fri- 
volous and scoffing spirit, narrates in a trifling style his tra- 
veller's impressions, or aims an epigram at Christianity, which 
he derides as a transient folly. If he seems to accept pagan- 
ism, it is only to repress the new doctrines whose decline he 
boldly predicts. After him pagan literature offers scarcely 
any thing worthy of remembrance. One poet undertakes a 
continuation of Homer, and completes in the Posthomerides 
the narrative of the Trojan war. Another, jealous of this 



112 LETTERS AND ARTS TILL CHARLEMAGNE. 

happy thought, relates in the Antehomerides the events which 
preceded it, and produces a prologue to the Iliad. 

History is cultivated with better success. Zozimus (5th 
cent.) gives a clear and rapid sketch of the decline of the 
empire to the fifth century, and is cited with confidence in 
spite of his declamations against Christianity. Priscus (5th 
cent.) composed a Byzantine history, of which, unfortunately, 
nothing but a fragment has reached us. Procopius (died 565), 
the companion and historian of Belisarius, narrates with 
warmth and skill the exploits of this great man, and com- 
pelled to flatter Justinian in an official work, avenges him- 
self in his memoirs, in which he lays bare the vice and 
corruption of the emperor's court. 

About 422 Macrohius, a grammarian and philosopher, 
writes a work of curious erudition under the title of Satur- 
nalia. And now too appears a new form in literature, the 
romance, for which so brilliant a part is reserved in the mid- 
dle ages. We will mention only ^thiopica, or the loves of 
Theagenes and Chariclea, which Racine admired so much, 
and which Heliodorus, a bishop who lived towards the end 
of the fourth century, had written before his conversion ; and 
the Daphne and Chloe of Longus (5th cent.), a pastoral, more 
remarkable for the grace than the delicacy of its descriptions. 
These works are written in Greek, and the rigid morality of 
the jEthiopica forms a striking contrast to the loose and vo- 
luptuous tone of the other works of this class. 

It is to paganism also that belong Hesychius, Philemones, 
Stohceus, and the other grammarians of that school of Alex- 
andria which attempted to oppose, by rules and definitions, the 
increasing corruption of language, and which first invented 
accents and punctuation to help the slothful intellects of the 
new inhabitants of the empire. 

100. Christian literature. — Apologists. — Christian schools. 
— At the side of these works, which with a few exceptions 



LETTERS AND ARTS TILL CHARLEBIAGNE. 113 

were so meagre and feeble, a new literature is developed 
under the influence of the sublime ideas of Christianity. 
The literary genius of Christianity appears in full vigor in 
the writings of the apologists, men holy and learned — as ar- 
dent in deed as in word. Their style, although affected by 
the bad taste of the age, is sustained by grandeur of thought 
and depth of conviction, and under the influence of an elo- 
quence which seems almost to partake of inspiration, we lose 
sight of inere defects of form. 

We have already mentioned, in speaking of the persecu- 
tions of the church, several men illustrious for their talepts 
and learning. And no sooner does the first dawn of peace 
give room for long study and profound meditation, than crowds 
of noble geniuses appear, the lights and the glory of the 
church. 

The Christians had begun early to oppose the schools of 
the pagans by schools of their own, in which the sciences and 
literature were taught by the faithful. From this crowd of 
Christian teachers who shone in the fourth century, we will 
cite only a few of the most eminent. Lactantius (about 300) 
taught a pagan school in his youth, and having embraced 
Christianity, continued his lessons in literature, after the ex- 
ample of Origen. His eloquence and his numerous writings, 
which had procured him the honor of teaching the son of 
Constantifie, won him the surname of the Cicero of Chris- 
tianity. 

101. Fathers of the church. — St. Athanasius. — St. Basil 
and St. Gregory. — St. Jerome and St. Ambrose. — We have 
already spoken of that young deacon who victoriously op- 
posed Arius before the council of Nice, and of Athanasius, 
bishop of Alexandria, the object of the indefatigable ha- 
tred of the Arians (373). After him two illustrious friends 
united their learning and talents for the defence and glory 
of Christianity, St. Basil (329-379) and St. Gregory of Na- 



114 LETTERS AND ARTS TILL CHARLEMAGNE. 

zianzen (328-389). Educated at the same school, and rivals 
in their studies, they sustained the contest against heresy with 
equal zeal, and maintained in the highest positions the honor of 
their priesthood. Basil appearing before the imperial governor 
(v. Rom. Hist. ch. xxiii. § v.), Gregory abandoning, in order 
to appease some disputes, the second bishopric in the world, 
gave a noble example of apostolic firmness and disinterested- 
ness. Both rendered equal services by their writings ; Basil 
by profound reasoning, vast erudition, and works always 
grand, sometimes sublime ; Gregory by a mildness, an im- 
pressiveness, and a grace, which make you love his doctrines 
while you admire his talents. The tears of the church 
proved how much she regretted this admirable fraternity of 
self-devotion, virtue, and genius. But two teachers not less 
illustrious were already beginning to make themselves known. 
These were Jerome and Ambrose. 

St. Jerome (340-420), the most learned of the fathers of 
the Latin church, buried his renown in a desert, where the 
remembrance of Rome and the voice of worldly glory came 
more than once to trouble his passionate soul and fervid ima- 
gination. There he devoted himself to the defence of the 
orthodox creed, and waged war against heresy from the depths 
of his solitude. It is to him that we owe the Latin trans- 
lation of the Scriptures. The name of St. Ambrose closes 
the fourth century (340-397). He was distinguished as an 
orator, a philosopher, and a learned theologian. The bold- 
ness with which he compelled the great Theodosius to do 
penance for the massacre of Thessalonica shows how firmly 
he exercised his ecclesiastical authority, and the conversion 
of St. Augustine to orthodoxy is considered as sufficient 
proof of the earnestness and success of his apostolic labors. 

102. Series of the fathers of the Greek church. — St. John 
Chrysostom. — These illustrious men were followed by worthy 
successors. The bishop of Hippo and the bishop of Constan- 



LETTERS AND ARTS TILL CHARLEMAGNE. 115 

tinople appear at the same time. John, the golden-mouthed 
father (344-407), after havmg preached twenty years in 
Antioch, was raised to the patriarchal chair of Constantino- 
ple. Firm and independent in the exercise of his authority, 
he spared neither the vices of the throne nor of the hovel. 
He was driven twice from Constantinople by the intrigues of 
his powerful enemies, and twice recalled by the enthusiasm 
of the people, full of admiration for his austere virtues and 
apostolic zeal. But the court of Constantinople could not 
long endure a prelate whose presence alone was a stern con- 
demnation of its licentiousness. Chrysostom was compelled 
to yield a third time to the resentment of the emperor, and 
bade adieu to his church, never to see it again. Dragged 
from exile to exile, compelled to follow his merciless keepers 
bareheaded under the rays of a burning sun, the holy old 
man, already worn out with labor and austerity, died at the 
age of sixty-three on the shores of the Euxine. 

After him St. Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) composed 
works remarkable for their profound learning, if not for cor- 
rectness of style : Theodoret (387-458), who had Chrysostom 
for his model in eloquence, governed the church of Cyr in 
Asia with great applause. In the eighth century John of 
Damascus (676-754) left several hymns which are still sung 
in the festivals of the church. 

103. Series of the fathers of the Latin church. — St. Augus- 
tine. — In the Latin church St. Augustine (354-429) was the 
ornament of sacred literature. He was born at Carthage, a 
learned and polite city, still flourishing amid the decay of the 
empire, and where the crowd still flocked to the public squares 
to witness the contests of the rhetoricians. In his confessions 
he tells us how he was first led astray by the temptations of 
youth. The subtleties too of the sophists entangled him in 
the errors of Manicheism. But rescued from them by St. 
Ambrose, he became their most fatal enemy. " He was," 



116 LETTERS AND ARTS TILL CHARLEMAGNE. 

says Villemain, "the most wonderful man of the Latin 
church ; the one who brought most imagination to theology, 
the most eloquence and even sensibility to scholastic philoso- 
phy. Never did a man possess a vaster or a readier genius. 
His comprehensive mind embraced every science — metaphy- 
sics, history, archaeology, manners, arts. He wrote upon 
music as readily as upon free will : he explains the pheno- 
mena of memory, and the decay of the empire. His elo- 
quence, though tainted with affectation and barbarism, is 
often fresh and simple." His writings still form the basis 
of theological instruction in the Catholic church, and hold 
also an important place as works of philosophy. In the im- 
mense variety of his writings, there is a character of religious 
universality which reminds us of Bossuet. 

104. Literature in the fifth century. — Sacred writers.— 
In the fifth century Salman, a priest of Marseilles, wrote 
during the great invasion a treatise on the Government of God, 
in which he justifies the ways of Providence, and speaks of 
the Barbarians as instruments of Divine justice. St. Avitus 
of Vienna composed a poem on the loss of Paradise, which is 
supposed to have suggested some beautiful passages to Milton : 
Claudian Mamertus was considered by Sidonius Apollinarius 
as the finest genius of his time (474) : and St. Cesarius (542) 
won a name by the beauty and simplicity of his homilies. 
All these were Gauls. — In Italy, Boethius defended the fun- 
damental truths of Christianity with the logic of Aristotle : 
Cassiodorus in his retirement wrote a remarkable work on 
the Scriptures : Byonysius the Little, (d. about 545) collected 
the Apostolical Canons, which obtained great success for the 
favorable view which they gave of the claims of the Holy 
See ; and in 526 calculated an Easter cycle, in which the 
birth of Christ was used for the first time as the starting point 
of chronology. 

Finally two popes, St. Leo (440-461) and St. Gregory 



LETTERS AND ARTS TILL CHARLEMAGNE. 117 

(590-604), obtained a high reputation by their writings and 
their discourses. The name of St. Gregory closes the list 
of the sacred writers of this period of decay. His last homi- 
ly, pronounced before the Roman people when the city was 
reduced to extremity by the attack of the Lombards, is cha- 
racterized by a deep and touching eloquence. 

105. Historians. — Poets. — History in the hands of the 
Christians is confined almost exclusively to the church, if we 
except Orosius of Tarragona (towards 414), author of an 
abridgment of the History of the World, Cassiodorus, Jornan- 
des, the historian of the Goths (towards 552), and Isidorus 
of Seville (570-636), who published a Universal Chronicle. 
The sufferings of the faithful and the triumphs of the chui'ch 
serve as an introduction to the narration of contemporary 
events ; which, recorded by monks and priests, find a place 
on the page, only when they are connected with the history 
of religion. It will be enough to cite in the Greek church, 
after Eusebius (338), Socrates the Scholastic, Sozomenes, and 
Theodoret, who collected the events after Constantine : in the 
Latin, Sulpicius Severus, whose Sacred History won him the 
name of the Christian Sallust ; Gregory of Tours (595), the 
Herodotus of France, whose continuator, Fredegarius, fell 
far short of the winning artlessness and originality of the 
author of the Ecclesiastical History of the Franks ; and the 
Venerable Bede, a Saxon monk of the eighth century, who 
laboriously collected the precious materials of the ancient 
history of England. 

Some Christian poets had mingled the fables of paganism 
with their writings ; but the mysteries of Christianity inspired 
something nobler than the compositions of Ausonius, which 
often ran into licentiousness (309-374), and the light poems 
of Sidonius Ajpollinarius (430-489). Synesius, bishop of 
Ptolemais and contemporary of St. Chrysostom, has left seve- 
ral hymns remarkable for purity of style and elevation of 



118 LETTERS AND ARTS TILL CHARLEMAGNE. 

thought. Prudentius (405), by turns lawyer, magistrate, and 
soldier, won by his lyric and didactic poems the title of prince 
of Christian poets. The poem of Prosperus of Aquitania on 
Grace was often imitated by Louis Racine. And in the 
seventh century, the hymn in honor of the cross, Vexilla re- 
gis prodeunt, the last monument of Latin poetry, was written 
by Fortunatus, the first versifier of his age (606), and who 
was treated with great honor by the princes of the Merovin- 
gian line. 

106. Sciences and arts. — Application of architecture and 
music to the Catholic worship. — The sciences, which require 
calm and tranquil meditation, made but little progress during 
this period of troubles and disorder. Geography owes some 
useful indications to the Periplus of Marcian of Heraclia, and 
the Christian Cosmography of the Egyptian Cosmos, who de- 
scribes China and India with considerable exactness. The 
celebrated Proclus left several works on astronomy ; and 
Diophantes, another of the new Platonists, invented, it is said, 
the first elements of algebra. The physical sciences were 
lost in the dreams of alchemy. The compendium of medical 
knowledge of Paul Eginetus is the only work which deserves 
to be remembered amidst a crowd of treatises on charms, 
talismans, and dreams. 

Art, like literature, undergoes a remarkable transforma- 
tion. Painting, drawing, and sculpture, after having supplied 
paganism with the objects of its worship, were looked upon 
with suspicion by the enemies of an idolatry which had not 
yet been overcome ; and the Catholic church, which preserved 
the worship of images, attached at first far more importance 
to the subject than to the execution. Drawing and painting 
were employed by the monks as ornaments of the manuscripts 
which they copied so laboriously, and mosaic was beginning 
to be used in decorating the interior of churches. 

Architecture, which had seemed destined to fall with the 



LETTERS AND ARTS TILL CHARLEMAGNE. 119 

ruins of the empire, was about to revive w^ith the vi'^ants of a 
new worship, and take a new and bold flight. The Roman 
basilica, which had never been profaned by the worship of 
false gods, was developed into the Christian temple. In the 
midst of the sanctuaries of paganism, Constantine had built 
the churches of St. John Lateran and St. Agnes. The Ro- 
tunda of Ravenna, built by Theodoric, and St. Sophia of 
Constantinople, by Justinian, deserve mention for their bold- 
ness and their colossal dimensions; but nearly all the remark- 
able monuments of the Roman or Byzantine type belong to 
the following age, in which the Gothic first arose, the source 
of all the architectural wonders of the middle ages (v. last 
chap.). 

Music, the sweetest form of adoration, was studied care- 
fully. . St. Ambrose substituted a graver and nobler style to 
the light melodies of the pagans. St. Gregory perfected it, 
and gave his name to that solemn and touching rhythm which 
is still heard in the ceremonies of the Catholic church. 



CHAPTER VII. 



MAHOMETANISM. 



SUMMARY. 

§ I. Description of Arabia : Arabia Deserta : Petrea : Happy. — The 
Sabeans and Ishniaelites ; their customs. — Religious state of Arabia be- 
fore Mahomet. 

§ II. History of Mahomet : his first preaching : conversion of his 
cousin Ali : his flight or hegira. — First expedition of Mahomet against 
the inhabitants of Mecca : battle of Beder. — Embassy of Mahomet to 
the emperor ; to the king of Persia ; to the king of Abyssinia. — Victoiy 
of Muta. — Taking of Mecca. — Death of Mahomet. 

§ III. The Koran: ts origin: its principal dogmas: skilful combi- 
nation of Christianity and Judaism : observances prescribed to Mussul- 
men. — Fatahsm. 

§ IV. Abu-Beker, first caliph. — Beginning of the holy war : exploits 
of Khaled : battle of Yermuck : conquest of Syria. — Amru invades Egypt 
under the caliphate of Omar. — Conquest of Persia after the victory of 
\'ictories under Othman. — Caliphate of Ah: civil vi^ar: Ali assassinated. 
— Moaviah founds the dynasty of the Ommiades. — Useless attack of Con- 
stantinople. — Success in Africa. — Victory of Xeres won by Tarik. — Pro- 
gress in the East ; in central and southern Asia. — The Mussulmen re- 
pulsed from Constantinople by the Greek fire. — Extent of the Mussulman 
empire. — Contests of the Abbassides and Ommiades. — Caliphate of the 
East falls to the Abbassides. — Abderame at Cordova. 

§ V. Brilliant period of the caliphate of the East. — AI Manzor. — Al 



STATE OF ARABIA BEFORE MAHOMET. 121 

Mahadi. — Glorious reign of Haroun al Raschid. — Flourishing state of 
the East under the caliphate : development of letters, the sciences, the 
arts. — Al-Maroun worthy successor of Haroun. 

§ VI. Decline of the caliphate : dismemberment of the Mussulman 
empire. — Dynasty of the Edrissites and Aglabites in Africa. — The Fa- 
timites. — Influence of the Turkish troops. — The emir Al-Omra. — Mah- 
moud the Gazneride independent in Persia. — Progress of the Seljuk Turks. 
— Toghrul-Beg, Malek-Schah. — Conquest of Asia Minor and Syria. 

§ VII. Conquest of Spain after the battle of Xeres. — Musa comes to 
replace Tarik, and is recalled himself— The Christians in the Asturias. 
— Troubles. — New expedition. — Spain becomes independent of the ca- 
hphate of the East. 

§ VIII. Abderame the Ommiad at Cordova. — State of Spain under 
the dominion of the Arabs. — Wealth and civilization. — Beginning of the 
contest between the Christians and the Arabs. — First successes. — King- 
dom of Asturia : of Navarre. — Glorious reign of the caliph Abderame 
III. — Exploits of the vizier Al-Manzor. — Decline and fall of the caliphate. 

§ IX. Excursions of the Arabs on the coasts of France and Italy.^ 
Conquests of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. 



PAET FIEST. 

THE MUSSULMEN IN ASIA AND AFRICA. 

§1. 

STATE OF ARABIA BEFORE MAHOMET. 

107. Description of Arabia. — On the south of Syria and 
east of Egypt lies a vast peninsula, which the old writers 
divided into three parts, Desert Arabia, Stony Arabia, and 
Happy Arabia. 

Nature is dead in the deserts of Arabia ; the sky is like 
brass, and there is nothing to temper the heat of the sun. 
From the summits of hills which the winds have stripped of 
vegetation, you descry vast plains in which the weary wan- 

6 



122 STATE OP ARABIA BEFORE MAHOMET. 

derer vainly seeks a shade to refresh him, or an object on 
which his eye can repose. An immense space separates 
him from every living being. From time to time, at the 
foot of some grove of isolated palms, he finds a stream 
which flows on and loses itself in the sands. The Arabian 
alone knows these resting-places : he alone inhabits them. 
Accustomed to a frugal life, he finds there the means of satis- 
fying his desires. It is there that he carries the slaves and 
treasures which he has taken from the caravan, and places 
them, as it were, under the protection of the fearful simoom, 
whose sulphureous exhalations choke man and beast. In the 
north, the aspect of the country suddenly changes. Immense 
blocks of granite heaped up in wild disorder bear witness to 
the ravages of extinguished volcanoes. In the midst of these 
gigantic fragments rises the chain of Sinai, whose valleys, 
fertile in pasturage, nourish large flocks. The shore of the 
Red Sea leads to Yemen or Araby the Blessed, where in- 
cense, balm, cinnamon, and coffee grow abundantly. Culti- 
vation is carried to the very tops of the mountains. Large 
roads unite the different cities, and an active commerce draws 
together foreigners from all parts. 

108. Manners and religion of ilie Arabians before Maho- 
met. — Two people of different origin and manners occupied 
Arabia towards the beginning of the middle ages : the Sabe- 
ans, for the most part sedentary, dwelling in cities, exchang- 
ing the products of their own country for the gold of others : 
and the Ishmaelites, wanderers like the son of Abraham, from 
whom they descended, and constantly engaged in contending 
with other men for that portion of the inheritance from which 
they have always been excluded. Like the Bedouins of our 
own days, these children of the desert traversed the sandy 
waste full as often to levy contributions upon travellers, as to 
defend the caravans which had paid the escort tax to the great 
Emir of the desert. Though they lived by plunder, yet the 



LIFE OF MAHOMET. 123 

stranger who took refuge under their tent was received joyful- 
ly ; for hospitality was their chief virtue. United under the 
orders of a sheik or emir, their judge in peace and their leader 
in war, they formed independent hordes, which sometimes unit- 
ed in some plundering excursion, and sometimes waged war 
upon one another. Their rich and ardent imagination loved 
the songs of poets, and early adopted the fables of paganism, 
which they adorned with oriental dreams. The Sabeism of 
Persia had also found its way among them, without effacing 
those paternal traditions which had preserved in the midst 
of Arabia some traces of the Jewish religion. Christianity 
had made some progress among the wandering tribes of the 
north ; and in the south, the Negus of Abyssinia, conqueror 
of the king of Yemen, had placed a Christian dynasty upon 
the throne. The four religions were about to be skilfully 
combined in order to form a new one, and Mahomet came to 
lead these robbers of the desert to the conquest of the world. 



§11. 

LIFE OF MAHOMET. 

109. First preaching of MaJwmet.— The Hegira. — Maho- 
met, son of Abdallah, of the tribe of the Koreishites, de- 
scendants of Ishmael, was boi'n in Mecca in 569. An orphan 
at the age of five, at twenty-five he married a rich widow 
named Cadijah, in whose service he had led caravans, and 
passed the first fifteen years of his married life in meditating 
that bold enterprise which was to change the face of half the 
world. Every year, he passed a month in a cave of Mount 
Hora, near Mecca. All of a sudden he pretended that the 
angel Gabriel had appeared to him, presented him a book, 
and bade him " Read in the name of the Lord who created 



124 LIFE OF MAHOMET. 

thee : for thou art the Apostle of God." He then declared 
himself the chosen of God to teach men a religion more per- 
fect than that of the Jews and Christians : a prophet announced 
by the Scriptures greater than Moses — greater than Christ. 
The first to believe his words were his wife Cadijah, and Seid 
his slave. In a feast in which he had assembled forty of his 
relatives, he offered them the goods of this world and the 
next, if they would embrace his doctrines. His cousin Ali, 
a youth of fourteen, cried out with enthusiasm, " O Prophet ! 
I will be thy companion and vizier. Whoever rises up against 
thee, I will break his teeth and tear out his bowels." The 
others tried to dissuade him from a project which they con- 
demned as folly. Unable to move him, either by threats or 
entreaties, they gave the alarm to the citizens of Mecca : 
nearly the whole of his own tribe declared against him, and 
after various vicissitudes and dangers, he was at last compelled 
to take refuge among his proselytes in Yatreb, which from 
that time was called Medina (the city par excellence). This 
was the hegira or year of flight, which forms the basis of 
Mussulman chronology (622). 

110. Victories and conquests of Maliomet. — His death. — 
It was from this, in fact, that Mahomet's triumph dates. The 
inhabitants of Medina declared for him, and as soon as he felt 
himself strong enough, he took up arms. Hearing that a 
body of Koreishites was returning from Syria with a rich 
caravan, he went to lie in wait for them near the well of Be- 
der (625). The caravan escaped, but a large body which 
had come out to their aid was defeated with great loss ; and 
this massacre was the beginning of that bloody preaching of 
Islamism which was to fill the world with carnage and ruins. 
Soon after, the defeat of ten thousand men under the walls 
of Mecca avenged a slight check of his partisans, and he 
obtained by treaty permission to visit the temple of the Caaba, 
that great object of the veneration of the Arabs, to which 



LIFE OF MAHOMET. - 125 

crowds of pilgrims flocked from all parts to see the famous 
Mack stone, once a gem of paradise, or as some taught, Ad- 
am's guardian angel, atoning in this form for the neglect of 
his charge. 

The taking of Caibac, a powerful city of the Jews (627), 
inspired him with such confidence, that he wrote to the em- 
peror Heraclius, the king of Persia, the king of Abyssinia, 
the governor of Egypt, and all the emirs of the Arabs — 
" In the name of Him who created the heavens and the earth, 
I command you to believe in God, and in Mahomet his pro- 
phet." Little attention was paid to his summons; but next 
year the army of Heraclius was defeated for the first time 
by the Mussulmen near Muta (630). The Mahometans did 
wonders on that day. The standard-bearer Giafar had his 
right hand cut off. He seized the standard with his left. 
Losing this too, he clasped the standard in his arms, and held 
it fast till he fell with it, lifeless. Khaled, one of Mahomet's 
lieutenants, decided the victory by his valor. Nine swords 
had broken in his hand during the conflict. Mecca, at the 
news of this triumph, opened her gates. The three hundred 
and sixty idols of the Caaba fell, and the temple of Mecca 
became the first temple of Islamism {islam, the faith that 
saves). Arabia received the new law voluntarily or by 
force ; and in the year of Embassies (631) the envoys of He- 
raclius, of the governor of Egypt, and the king of Yemen, 
came to solicit the friendship of the conqueror. 

Shortly after, Mahomet died of a languishing disease 
(632), poisoned, it was said, by a Jewess, at the taking of 
Mecca. Perceiving his end approach, he caused himself to 
be carried to the mosque of Medina, and said to the people : 
" If I have struck any one, here is a stick, let him strike me 
again. If I owe any one, here is my purse, let him pay 
himself." A man claimed three drachms, which Mahomet 
paid, thanking him for having accused him in this world 
rather than in the next. 



126 RELIGIOUS LEGISLATION OF MAHOMET. 



§ III. 



SKETCH OF THE RELIGIOUS LEGISLATION OF MAHOMET AND 
THE KORAN. 

111. Origin of the Koran. — Mahomet left no digested 
body of doctrine. His father-in-law, Abu Beker, collected 
all the sentences, instructions, visions, and revelations which 
he had scattered during his lifetime, and formed the Koran 
or iook par excellence. In this strange collection great truths 
are mingled Avith absurd dreams and deplorable errors. Ma- 
homet had studied Christianity in Syria, and was familiar 
with the doctrines of the Jews. The Koran was announced 
as the complement of the Bible and the Gospel. " Truth," 
said Mahomet, "has been brought to man by six prophets : 
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mahomet. 
The last is the greatest of all. He is the spirit of truth an- 
nounced by the Gospel." By accepting many rites and doc- 
trines of the Christians and Jews, he doubtless won many to 
his side who would otherwise have opposed him when their 
opposition was most to be dreaded ; and he never could have 
taken the same stand as an insulated teacher, which he did 
as the successor of a line of prophets. But it must not be 
forgotten that he was born in a land of idolaters, whom he 
was the first to recall from their idolatry ; that he had been 
brought up in absurd rites, the absurdity of which he had 
the intelligence to perceive and the boldness to declare ; and 
that the nation which he found grovelling before images of 
their own making, he left sincere and ardent believers in the 
unity of God. 

But he was far from thinking that many of the rites 
which the abstemious Mussulman could practise with but 
little effort under the burning sun of Arabia, would become 



RELIGIOUS LEGISLATION OF MAHOMET. 127 

a grievous burthen to his descendants in Constantinople and 
Spain. A drop of fresh water or a cup of milk is the sweet- 
est draught that can be offered to the parched lip of the Arab 
in the desert, and Mahomet may well be excused for not 
having foreseen that the day would come when it would be 
hard for a Moslem to turn away fi'om the wine-cup. 

112. Principal dogmas of Islainism. — The religion of 
Islam is divided into two parts : Faith and Practice. There 
are six articles of faith : 1st. Faith in God — single, immu- 
table, omniscient, omnipotent, all-merciful, and eternal. 2d. 
In his angels, ethereal beings created from fire, of various 
degrees in duty and favor, but all raised by their nature 
above the weaknesses and infirmities of humanity. 3d. In 
the Koran, as a book of Divine revelation. 4th. In the pro- 
phets of God — six of whom out of two hundred thousand are 
pre-eminent, as having brought new laws and dispensations 
upon earth. 5th. The resurrection and final judgment. 
Here Christianity and Arabo-Judaism are strangely blend- 
ed : the Moslem believing that the soul is reunited to the 
body to be judged in the grave, immediately after death, by 
two black angels of fearful aspect, and then awaits, in a state 
of seraphic tranquillity, near the tomb, or of awful anticipa- 
tion in the bowels of the earth, through the interval between 
death and resurrection. 6th. Predestination, or that every 
event, the destiny and dying hour of every individual, were 
irrevocably predetermined. 

Practice : 1st. Prayer and ablution five times a day. 
2d. Alms to the value of a tenth of a man's revenue. 3d. 
Fasting — thirty days during the month Rhamadan from sun- 
rise to sunset. 4th. One pilgrimage to Mecca during life, 
either in person or by proxy. 

If we compare this system with Christianity, we must 
confess that it every where betrays the marks of human 
weakness, and falls infinitely below the Divine precepts of 



128 ALL — THE OMMIADES. 

Christ. But if we compare it with what Mahomet learnt 
from his fathers and saw daily practised around him, we 
shall be compelled to confess that none but a genius of the 
highest order could have worked out such a change. There 
can be no reasonable doubt of Mahomet's sincerity, at least 
up to the beginning of his military expeditions, when human 
ambition began first to develope itself in his breast ; nor 
should it be a matter of surprise, that in turning away in 
disgust from the idolatry of his own countrymen, he should 
have hesitated to accept a creed at the hands of such Jews 
or even such Christians as he had known. 



§ IV. 

ALI. THE OMMIADES. 

113. The first caliphs. — Conquest of Syria and Egypt. — 
Ali, the first of the believers, seemed called to succeed Ma- 
homet ; but the influence of Ayesha, the prophet's favorite 
wife, prevailed against him, and obtained the election of her 
father, Abu Beker, as caliph or vicar of the prophet. He 
immediately summoned the faithful to the work of conversion, 
and gave the signal of the holy war. Syria, the nearest 
country, was attacked first. Khaled, the sword of God, in- 
vaded it at the head of five thousand men, inured to every 
form of hardship by the wandering life of the desert, and 
animated by the wildest enthusiasm. The Roman army, 
seventy thousand strong, was conquei'ed at Aisnaddin. Boz- 
ra and Damascus were taken by assault. Part of the inha- 
bitants, who had been spared on the faith of a treaty and allow- 
ed three days to escape in, were overtaken and massacred in 
their flight. The brilliant success of the Mussulmen was 
crowned by the great victory of Yermouk, under the caliph. 



ALL — THE OMMIADES. 129 

ate of Omar (634-644), and in 638 Syria submitted to the 
conquerors. 

Egypt was invaded by Amru, who had shared with Khaled 
the glory and the perils of the Syrian war (638). Memphis 
opens her gates, and after a resistance of fourteen months 
Alexandria is taken, in spite of the energetic resistance . of 
her inhabitants and the succor which they received by sea. 
It was then that the great library of Alexandria is said to 
have been destroyed, although the story is hard to reconcile 
with the silence of the original historians, or the condition in 
which the library had been left by the destruction of the 
temple of Serapion. 

114. Conquest of Persia. — Persia was conquered at the 
same time. The tiara, after long domestic dissensions, had 
just been placed on the head of the young Yesdegird III., 
when the Arabians appeared on the frontier under the orders 
of the brave Saad. The terrible battle of Kadesia (636), 
which lasted three days, threw the Persians beyond the Ti- 
gris, and the belief that the last hour of their empire had 
come spread dismay and discouragement among the soldiers. 
The cities which had so often repulsed the Roman armies 
opened their gates without resistance. But still the young 
king, though surrounded by cowards and traitors, struggled 
manfully for his throne. At the head of his last army he 
fought, near Nehavend, a decisive battle, and lost all in the 
victory of victories (642). Forsaken by every one, he was 
assassinated a few yeai's after, and the dynasty of the Sassa- 
nides ended with him (652). 

Omar had died in 644, with the boast that he had contribut- 
ed more than the prophet himself to the progress of Islamism, 
having destroyed forty thousand temples of the unbelievers. 
The fall of Yesdegird and final subjection of Persia took place 
under his successor, Otliman (644-655). 

115. Caliphate of AU. — Civil war. — Ali, the faithful 



130 ALL — THE OMBIIADES. 

companion of the prophet, was now raised to the caliphate, 
but his elevation was the cause of his death. Ayesha, who 
had opposed him three times successfully, now excited Amru, 
governor of Egypt, and Mohaviah, governor of Syria, against 
him. The civil war lasted five years. To end it, three fa- 
natics resolved to kill the three pretenders, and each chose 
his victim. Ali alone was killed (661), and his descendants 
struggled in vain to defend their inheritance. These political 
divisions gave rise to a religious division still deeper and far 
more lasting. The partisans of Ali, under the name of 
Sclmtes, attached themselves scrupulously to the letter of the 
Koran, and rejected with horror the doctrines of the Sunnites, 
who admitted tradition as a means of interpreting and com- 
pleting the sacred book. The former are chiefly found 
in Persia, and an irreconcilable hatred separates the two 
sects, each of which maintains that it is more pleasing to 
God to kill one schismatic Mussulman than many Christians. 

116. Accession of the Ommiades. — Conquests in Africa 
and Spain. — Mohaviah caused himself to be proclaimed ca- 
liph, and became the founder of the dynasty of the Ommiades. 
It was he who first sent his fleets against Constantinople, upon 
the word of the prophet, who had promised a glorious place 
in Paradise to him who should first attack the city of the em- 
perors. But the Imperialists fought with the Greek fire, which 
water instead of extinguishing, merely decomposed and sup- 
plied with fresh strength. " It was thrown from the summits 
of the walls in waves of fire, or hurled in vessels of red-hot 
iron : it cleaved the sea in fire-ships, which dashed frightfully 
in amidst the hostile fleet, and falling with the swiftness and 
noise of a thunderbolt, spread a horrid light far around." 
The Arabs were driven back, and Mohaviah was compelled 
to pay tribute (678). 

In Africa his arms were more successful. Here he was 
opposed by Queen Kainah, who summoning all the tribes to 



ALL — THE OMMIADES. 131 

the defence of their country, repulsed a first attack, and laid 
the country waste to render a second impracticable. This 
terrible measure, which was executed by the wandering war- 
riors of the desert, produced a revolt among the inhabitants 
of the west, and the Moslems reappearing soon after, were 
welcomed as friends and protectors. Hassan took Carthage 
(698), and after the death of Kaina, killed in battle (708), 
Musa completed the conquest of Africa to the shores of the 
Atlantic. The exile of three hundred thousand Berbers, 
who were transported into Asia, confirmed the subjection of 
the country. Islamism was imposed upon the vanquished, 
and Christianity disappeared for ages from this portion of the 
world, where it had once seemed to have struck its roots so 
deeply. The conquest of Spain soon followed that of Africa. 

Five thousand Mussulmen crossed the straits of Gibraltar 
under the orders of TanA:, and at the call of Count Julian 
(v. ch. ii.). The battle of Xeres (711), in which Roderic 
fell, overthrew the power of the Christians. Those who es- 
caped took refuge in the mountains of Asturia (v. ch. vii.). 

117. Progress in the east. — Extent of the Moslem domin- 
ions. — In the east the conquests did not stop. Armenia was 
conquered in 696 by the caliph Abd-el-Malek. Under the 
caliphate of Walid, who had sent Musa, the Moslem arms 
appeared on the frontiers of China, and the emperor, alarmed 
at the approach of these men whom no obstacle could stop, 
hastened to promise tribute and send magnificent presents. 
On their return, they conquered the warlike population of 
Turkishtan, and subdued central Asia beyond the Indus and 
the Ganges. Still they met a firm resistance in Asia Minor, 
where the Taurus long marked the limit of their possessions. 
A second attack of Constantinople was equally unfortunate 
with the first : and the Moslem fleet was again destroyed by 
the terrible Greek fire (717). 

Eighty years after Mahomet's death, his empire had ac- 



132 THE ABBASSIDES. 

quired an immense extent. In Europe, it embraced Spain 
and the Balearic Islands : in Africa, all the northern coast 
from the Atlantic to the Red Sea : in Asia, Arabia, Syria, 
Palestine, Persia, Armenia, and the provinces of the Cauca- 
sus, the two Bucharias, with a part of Turkishtan and Hin- 
dostan. Thus in less than a century had arisen a dominion 
vaster than that of the Romans or of Alexander. But the 
seeds of division were already sown, and a great revolution 
was about to prepare the way for a future reaction of religion 
and liberty. 

118. Contest letioeen the Ahhassides and Ommiades. — The 
descendants of Abbas, an uncle of Mahomet, revolted under 
Merican 11. , and were supported by the partisans of Ali, ir. 
reconcilable enemies of the usurping race. A bloody war 
began between the Abbassides and Ommiades — the black 
banner and the white : it was both a political and a religious 
contest. Merwan was killed (749), eighty members of his 
family were put to death by order of his rival, Aboul- Abbas, 
and the caliphate of Damascus was the prize of the new dy. 
nasty. At the same time, an Ommiad who had escaped from 
the massacre of his family, Ahderame, fled to Spain, where 
he defeated the lieutenant of the Abbassides (756), and de- 
clared himself independent at Cordova (v. § viii.). 



THE ABBASSIDES. 

119. Caliphate of the east. — Al-Manzor. — Al-Mahadi.-— 
At. Raschid.— The era of the Ommiades had been the period 
of conquests. That of the Abbassides also, though destined 
to witness the decline and fall of the caliphate, had its days 
of power and glory. The blind fanaticism of Mahometanism - 



THE ABBASSIDES. 133 

yielded to the influence of civilization, and the Arabian cha- 
racter, after having been first developed with such fearful 
energy, now appeared under an aspect which, though divested 
of its terrors, had lost none of its splendor. 

After the death of Aboul- Abbas the Bloody, Abou-Giafar- 
al-Manzor (the victorious), founder of Bagdad (762), carried 
his arms to the north of the Caspian, and gave a generous 
protection to literature and the arts (754-775). The reign 
oi Mohammed al-Mohadi (the reformer of justice) prepared 
the way for that of his son Haroun al-Raschid, whose mili- 
tary career began during the lifetime of his father by a bril- 
liant expedition against the empress Irene, who was compelled 
to promise tribute (782). Under this great prince (786-809), 
the caliphate attained its highest degree of splendor. The 
emperor Nicephoras having dared to send the caliph a bundle 
of swords, instead of the tribute promised by Irene, Haroun 
cut with a blow of his scimetar the badly tempered steel of 
the Greek arms, and sent word to the emperor that *' lie would 
see, not hear his ansioer." Soon after, the terrified Greeks 
saw the Arabs advance in Asia Minor, and Nicephoras, de- 
feated in several battles, was compelled to accept a humiliating 
treaty, and have engraved upon his tribute money the image 
of his victorious enemy (805). 

120.. Development of literature, the sciences, and the arts. 
— The arts of peace, too, flourished under the patronage of 
the caliph. The Arabs, weary of making ruins, set them- 
selves to rebuild them : the fields, so long desolate, were 
covered with delightful country-seats : smiling gardens, built 
upon the sides of mountains and supported by enormous walls, 
x'ecalled the hanging gardens of Babylon. The palace of the 
caliph seemed the type of those enchanted dwellings of which 
we read in the Arabian tales. A few years later, the Greek 
ambassadors admired in this splendid dwelling thirty-eight 
thousand carpets, a great number of which were of silk, em- 



134 THE ABBASSIDES. 

broidered with gold, and among other refinements of a won- 
derful luxury, a tree of gold and silver, with eighteen large 
branches covered with birds of all kinds, made like the 
leaves themselves of the most precious materials. This tree 
waved as if in the wind, and with every undulation you heard 
the songs of the different birds. 

Enthusiastic admirers of every kind of glory, the inhab- 
itants of the east aspired to literary success as well as success 
in arms. Their ingenious and fertile imaginations produced 
those graceful fictions, those fantastic inventions, those pas- 
sionate narratives, of which the Arabian Nights are the spe- 
cimen best known. But they took pleasure also in abstract 
meditation, became philosophers, and studied Aristotle. The 
categories, the divisions and formulas of the Stagirite became 
popular in the east, and even Islamism itself did not wholly 
escape the influence of pei'ipatetic ideas, any more than 
Christianity did those of Plato. 

The exact sciences were further advanced at the court 
of Al-Raschid than in Europe, and the Arabs became, on 
more than one occasion, the masters of the Europeans. They 
taught them the numerals which we still use, and which were 
so great an improvement upon the Roman. To them also 
belongs, if not the invention, the application, at least, of al- 
gebra, that admirable instrument of mathemathical discovery. 
Chemistry and medicine were in great honor at Bagdad, and 
Avicenna and Averroe.s won an immense reputation, aided, 
perhaps, not a little by the use of means which experience 
has long since disclaimed. The first clock that was seen in 
Europe was sent by Haroun to Charlemagne, and the post 
was established in the provinces of the caliph seven hundred 
years before it was introduced into France. 

Al-Mamoun, the worthy successor of Al-Raschid (813- 
833), employed learned men to collect the most useful works 
and translate them into Arabic, in spite of the opposition of 



INDEPENDENT DYNASTIES. 135 

the Mahometan theologians, who condemned these reproduc- 
tions of Greek literature and philosophy as blasphemy. All 
that they could obtain was, that after the translation was 
completed the originals should be destroyed. 



§ VI. 

INDEPENDENT DYNASTIES. SELJTJK TURKS. 

121. Dismember?nent of the Moslem empire. — Independent 
dynasties. — But though this splendor concealed for a while, 
it could not destroy the seeds of decay which had been thick- 
ly sown in the Arabian dominion. The enthusiasm which 
had been so powerful an instrument of conquest, became a 
source of disorder when the victory was won. Fanaticism 
and ambition were soon to destroy the vast empire which 
they had built up. Even during the reign of Al-Raschid, 
Ibrahim ben-Ag/ah had refused to pay tribute, and founded in 
northern Africa the independent dynasty of the Aglabites 
(800), which ruled on the Mediterranean for two centuries, 
and conquered Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily (v. § ix.). An- 
other of his lieutenants, Edris, threw off the dominion of the 
caliphs, and built on the west coast of Africa the city o^ Fez, 
which became the capital of the Edrissites (789). The dy- 
nasties of the Taheriles (813-872), of the Soffarides (872- 
912), of the Samanides (879-999), succeeded one another in 
Khorassan. While the Tartar tribes, newly converted to 
Islamism, dismembered the caliphate in the east, and founded 
the dynasty of the Hamadanides in Mesopotamia (892) and 
of the Buids in Persia (933), the sect of the Karmathians 
devastated the remaining provinces of the caliphate with fire 
and sword. These fanatics, who at the word of their chief, 
did not hesitate to plunge a dagger in their breasts or throw 
themselves from a precipice, easily dispersed the effeminate 



136 INDEPENDENT DYNASTIES. 

troops of the sovereigns of Bagdad, and carried their ravages 
to the coasts of Africa. 

And finally the Fatimites, roused by a sectary who an- 
nounced himself as a descendant of Fatima, the daughter 
of the prophet, and himself the last of the prophets, became 
powerful in Africa, and subjected to their yoke the descend- 
ants of Edris and of Aglab (909). Moez-Billah (953-975), 
the fourth Fatimite, founded the city of Cairo, which became 
the seat of the new caliphate. " What are your titles to this 
rank ?" inquired some injudicious doubters. " These," re- 
plied the Fatimite chief, displaying his treasure and his 
sword, " these are my genealogy and my family." Africa 
was to remain subject to his successors till towards the end 
of the twelfth century (v. ch. xii.). 

122. Decay of the caliphate. — The Emir al-Oinrah. — The 
caliphs of Bagdad had sought to escape this general dismem- 
berment by calling terrible auxiliaries to their defence. The 
Turkish troops, brave as the Arabs of Mahomet, had been 
received in the caliph's guard in 841 ; but these fierce and 
independent men soon shook the empire which they had been 
called to sustain, and bloodied the throne with their frequent 
revolts. Five caliphs perished by assassination in the course 
of twenty-five years (846-870), and at the end of the ninth 
century an insurrection of the Arabs of the desert gave the 
last blow to the dynasty of the Abbassides. Al-Khadi (934— 
940), unable to defend his inheritance against these constant- 
ly renewed usurpations and insurrections, placed his throne 
under the protection of a more energetic authority, and con- 
ferred tipon a Turk of the family of the Buids the dignity 
of Emir al-Omrah, or prince of the princes of the empire of 
the caliph (935). This office had the same effect as the may- 
ordom of the palace among the Franks. The emir stripped 
the caliph of his political influence, and left him nothing but 
an empty religious supremacy. 



INDEPENDENT DYNASTIES. 137 

Still their power did not long survive that of the caliphs. 
The Fatimites advanced from conquest to conquest, through 
Palestine and Syria, up to the gates of Bagdad, and forced the 
emir to pay tribute (985). A few years afterwards, Persia, 
which had long been subject to the Buids, was taken from them 
by Malimoud the Gaznevide (997), who was the first to take the 
title of sultan, making extensive conquests in Persia and In- 
dia : but his dynasty was soon to give way before a new 
power. 

123. The SeJjuk Turks in Asia Minor. — The powerful 
tribe of Seljuk Turks descended from the shores of the Cas- 
pian and the Oxus under the guidance of the valiant Toghrul- 
ieg, whom they had proclaimed king (1038). Togrul drove the 
Gaznevides towards the Indus, stripped the Buids of the office 
of emir al-omrah, and seated himself on the throne at the 
side of the caliph, who placed upon his head two turbans as 
symbols of the crowns of Persia and Arabia, and girded him 
with two swords, as lord of the east and the west. Toghrul's 
son Alp-Arslan (1063) entered Asia Minor, which the emperor 
Diogenes defended vigorously. But the Barbarian profiting by 
the defection of a body of mercenaries, defeated him, and in the 
exultation of victory compelled the unfortunate sovereign to 
kiss the ground before his conqueror (1071). Under Mahk- 
Shah (1072-1093), the empire of the Seljuks extended from 
the extreme confines of Yemen to the Caspian sea, and from the 
frontiers of China to the shores of the Hellespont. Egypt 
alone remained subject to the Fatimites. The Gi'eeks re- 
tained possession of a few cities in Asia Minor. But the 
division of the vast inheritance of Malek-Shah into four sul- 
tanates, prepared the way for the success of the first crusade. 



138 INVASION OF SPAIN BY THE ARABS. 

PAET SECOND. 

THE MTJSSULMEN IN EUROPE. 

§ YIL 

INVASION OF SPAIN BY THE ARABS. 

124. Conquest of Spain hy Tarik and Musa. — The mo- 
narchy of the Goths fell at the battle of Xeres, and Christian 
Spain seemed annihilated. The victorious Saracens pene- 
trated, under the guidance of Tarik, to the heart of the Pe- 
ninsula, ravaged Andalusia, and took Toledo, while a small 
band of warriors w^ho had escaped from the disastrous field 
of Xeres took refiige in the mountains of Asturia, under the 
conduct of Pelagio, a descendant, it was said, of the Gothic 
king Recaredes. These heroes, faithful to their God and to 
their country, preserved in exile the sacred deposit of religion 
and independence. Pelagio, proclaimed king in 718, and 
victorious over the Mussulmen the very next year, establish- 
ed his authority over the important cities of Astorga and 
Leon. His successors were soon to pass the narrow limits 
of this little kingdom, and restore Christianity and freedom 
to the conquered people. 

Over all the rest of Spain the Arab dominion spread ra- 
pidly. The emir Musa, jealous of his lieutenant's glory, 
crossed the strait at the head of eighteen thousand men, and 
all the provinces yielded at his approach. Medina, Seville, 
Be] a, were taken in turn ; and the Goth Theodemir succeed- 
ed in preserving the province of Murcia in eastern Betica 
only by promising tribute. However, Merida, formerly one 
of the most celebrated of the Roman colonies, and then the 
capital of Lusitania, resisted courageously, in the hope that 



INVASION OF SPAIN BY THE ARABS. 139 

the fatigues of war and old age would soon deliver her from 
her enemy. Musa triumphed by a stratagem : he stained 
his beard and hair, and gave audience to the Christian envoys 
in a half-lighted tent. The deputies, terrified at this meta- 
morphose, told their fellow-citizens that their hopes were 
vain, and the city opened its gates. 

125. Troubles. — Spain becomes independent of the caliphs 
of the east. — Meanwhile Musa, who had taken away the 
command from his lieutenant Tarick and had him beaten ig- 
nominiously, was recalled by the caliph. He returned to the 
east loaded with the wealth which the Goth had been three 
centuries in collecting, and leaving the government of his 
new conquest to his son, the young Abdelasis. Abdelasis 
had distinguished himself during the invasion by brilliant 
exploits ; but his marriage with the beautiful Egilona, widow 
of Roderic, excited the suspicion of the caliph, who had him 
assassinated in the mosque of Cordova. Musa, the conqueror 
of Spain, whom the tyrant had stripped of his treasures and 
banished to Mecca, died of grief on hearing the tragic fate 
of his son. But it was in vain that the caliphs made the 
walis or governors of Spain dependent on the viceroys of Af- 
rica ; the suspicions and cruel policy of the masters of the 
east could not long preserve this distant province. 

The progress of the Mussulman power, interrupted by 
Musa's recall, soon resumed its course, and already threat- 
ened all Christendom, when it was suddenly checked by the 
famous victory of Charles Martel at Poictiers (732) (v. § ix. 
of this ch.). This disaster was soon followed by a great 
revolution. 

A bloody contest gave the sceptre of the east to a new 
dynasty (v. § v.), and a single descendant of the Ommiad 
caliphs, Abderame (Abd al-Rahman, servant of the compas- 
sionate), escaped the assassin's dagger (750). While a price 
was set upon his head by the wall of Africa, three sheiks 



140 CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA. 

of Cordova came to offer him Spain, where his family had 
still many partisans. He crossed the strait with a thousand 
horsemen, defeated Youssef, the Abbasside governor (756), 
and being proclaimed emir al-moumenin, established at Cordo- 
va the seat of a second Mussulman empire. Still he did not 
dare to assume the sacred title of caliph, which his descend- 
ants did not take till a hundred and fifty years afterwards. 



§ VIII. 

CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATE OF 

THE ARABS IN SPAIN. 

126. Flourishing state of Spain under the dominion of the 
Arabs. — Abderame and his successors made incredible efforts 
to confirm their power and reconstruct the Spanish nation, by 
binding the old inhabitants to the new, less by the force of 
arms than by the splendor with which they surrounded their 
throne. The evils of the invasion were repaired by a mild 
and humane government. The conquered people preserved 
their laws ; were judged by their own tribunals, except when 
they had offended a Mussulman : the conquerors were not 
free from taxation, though it fell heaviest upon the conquered • 
but the latter were allowed the free exercise of their x'eligion, 
provided they refrained from any public attack upon Mahomet- 
anism. Their principal churches had been converted into 
mosques, but many remained in the hands of the Christians, 
who were allowed even the use of bells, which had been every 
where forbidden in Africa and in Asia. Property was res- 
pected, and the Arabs took only the domains of the state or 
those tracts which the war had depopulated. Agriculture, 
under the protection of the new sovereigns, flourished once 
more throughout the peninsula. Several useful plants were 



CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA. 141 

brought from the east, and taking root in a kindred soil, con- 
tributed to the wealth of the fields. The palm of the desert 
rose by the side of the products of the west. Spain became 
the most populous and industrious of European countries. 

This brilliant civilization, which rendered the reigns of 
Haroun and Al-Mamoun so illustrious in Asia, cast a splen- 
dor equally brilliant upon Mussulman Europe. The emirs 
of Cordova were the worthy rivals of the masters of Bagdad. 
The arts, encouraged by the prodigal liberality, and even by 
the example of the sovereign, displayed all their magnifi- 
cence : Abderame worked with his own hands on a magnificent 
mosque, which was supported on more than a thousand 
columns. The capital of the new empire became the sanc- 
tuary of literature and science. Seventy libraries and sev- 
enteen schools opened abundant sources of instruction. An 
academy of forty members discussed the great questions of 
philosophy and literature. Six great cities vied with the 
splendor of the capital : four hundred cities of inferior rank 
were enriched by commerce : upon the banks of the Guadal- 
quiver alone there were twelve hundi'ed villages surrounded 
by fertile fields. 

127. Beginning of the contest hetween the Arabs and 
Christians. — Still this prosperity, which the imagination of 
poets has painted in such brilliant colors, could neither give 
life nor duration to the Mussulman dominion. The Moors 
were still strangers upon the soil of Spain. A few of the old 
inhabitants uniting their families with those of the Arabs, 
accepted the names of Mozarahs, or Arabs by adoption. But 
Christianity and Islamism were irreconcilable enemies, and 
the brilliant empire of the Mahometans was one day to yield 
to the poor and despised Christians. 

Spain was thenceforth the theatre of that long and mag- 
nificent struggle in which, in despite of many reverses, the 
obstinate energy of the Christians gradually prevailed. Ab- 



142 CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA. 

derame, the independent emir of Cordova, reigned thirty 
years with glory ; but already the second successor of Pela- 
gio, Alfonso I. the Catholic (739-757), had conquered Galli- 
cia, and Froila had made himself master of Oviedo (759— 
768). Soon after, an expedition of Charlemagne, called in 
by the rebel governors, shook the Moorish empire in the 
north of the peninsula (778) ; and the powerful king of the 
Franks put garrisons in the cities near the Pyrenees. Du- 
ring the troubles which followed the death of the emir Hes- 
cham, Alfonso the Chaste, king of Asturia (797-835), 
advanced victoriously to the gates of Lisbon, and the feeble 
Al-Hakem, enraged at a success which broke in upon his 
indolent life, avenged himself by slaughtering his own sub- 
jects. Under Ahderame II. (822-852), several places in 
A ragon proclaimed their independence : the Navarrese, free 
under Count Aznar (831), crossed the Ebro in arms (841), 
and soon took for king the brave Garcias Ximenes (860). 

The divisions of the two infidel races, the Arabians pro- 
per and the Berbers of Africa, who had united during the 
first days of the conquest, favored the efforts of the Chris- 
tians. Ramire I. (835-850), called to the throne by Alfonso 
I., won great renown by a brilliant victory over the Arabs 
near Logrono. The intrepid Ordogno (850-866), conqueror 
of the emir Mahomet I. (853), had penetrated as far as Sal- 
amanca, when a leader of brigands roused all the north of 
Spain and joined the Christians. Alfonso the Great, the 
worthy son of Ordogno, advanced triumphantly to the Tagus, 
repeopled several Mussulman cities with Christians, and 
crowned his triumphs by the great victory of Zamora (901). 
But the reign of the great Abderame III., who first took the 
title of Caliph of the West, suddenly checked the progress 
of the Christians (912). 

128. Glorious reign of the caliph Abderame III. — This 
was the most brilliant period of the Mussulman dominion. 



CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA. 143 

The revolted provinces were brought back to the yoke ; the 
Christians, among whom divisions had crept in, after the 
death of Alfonso the Great (910) defended themselves with 
difficulty among their mountains ; and the terrible battle of 
Simancos, which cost the caliph fifty thousand men, was but 
a momentary check to the progress of the Mussulmen (937). 
The Moorish empire was reconstructed : Abderame, conqueror 
of the Fatimites, was proclaimed caliph in Africa : his nu- 
merous fleets gave him the command of the Mediterranean, 
and the emperor of Constantinople sent to solicit his assist- 
ance against the caliphs of Bagdad. King Ramire II., who 
ventured a new effort, lost two armies in a fatal expedition, 
and died of grief (950). The Christians, driven back in 
Gallicia, were compelled to lay down their arms. 

In the midst of these wars Abderame protected literature 
and the arts, and displayed all his grandeur and magnificence 
in the palace of Cordova, brilliant with marble and gold. 
And yet this great caliph, after fifty years of prosperity and 
glory, declared on his death-bed (961) that he had had scarce 
fourteen happy days in his life. 

129. Exploits of the vizier Al-Manzor . — After this brilliant 
reign, degenerate caliphs buried in the magnificent palace 
of Abderame their indolent and voluptuous lives, and permit- 
ted the powerful empire which he had built up to fall to ruins. 
Hescham II., to reanimate the religious enthusiasm of the 
Arabs, by restoring the primitive rites of their worship in all 
their vigor, could think of no better means than tearing up 
the vineyards and proscribing the use of wine. The vizier 
Mohammed-al-Manzor (the victorious) resisted the decay with 
gi'eater energy : he appealed to the brilliant memorials of the 
conquest, and cast, at least, the splendor of his own exploits 
over the last days of the caliphate. The Christians, driven back 
once more to their mountains, saw the Mussulman hero take 
Barcelona and Zamora, carry the strong city of Leon by 



144 EXCURSIONS OF THE SARACENS. 

assault, plundei' the revered church of St. James of Compos- 
tella, the patron of Christian Spain, and having conquered 
the Edressites, whose revolt he had crossed the straits to 
chastise, return to the other extremity of Spain, and pursue 
the Navarrese to the foot of the Pyrenees. Fifty years of 
triumphs had persuaded Al-Manzor that he was invincible : 
but the kings of Leon and Navarre, Bermudas II. and Gar- 
cias III., and Garcias Fernandes, count of Castile, uniting 
for the defence of the Christian name after their long and 
fatal rivalries, met him at Calatagnazar, not far from Medina- 
Celi (998). It was Al-Manzor's fifty-seventh battle. For 
a whole day he contended manfully for the victory : but 
the Christians won it, and the emir died of despair. 

130. Decline and fall of the caliphate. — Immediately 
after, the Mussulmen, exhausted by their own success, fell 
into a new lethargy, and the caliphate became a prey to 
general dissolution. The African tribes, called in to repeo- 
ple the fields which all these wars had made desert, asserted 
their independence : the Walls, sovereigns in their provinces, 
refused to recognize the authority of the impotent caliph, and 
changed their governments into kingdoms. Nineteen states 
were formed out of the wrecks of the Mussulman empire, 
while twenty obscure pretenders followed in rapid succession 
upon the throne of Cordova. The dynasty of the Ommiades 
became extinct with Hescham III. (1031), and Cordova her- 
self became the simple capital of a province. 



§ IX. 

EXCURSIONS OF THE SARACENS IN FRANCE AND ITALY. 

131. Invasions of the Saracens in France checked ly 
Charles Mariel. — Of all the countries of Europe, Spain alone 



EXCUESIONS OF THE SARACENS. 145 

had been doomed to bear for centuries the yoke of the Mos- 
lems : but still the whole of southern Europe had to contend 
for a long period against their inroads and invasions. Even 
before the conquest of Spain had been completed, Musa (713), 
conqueror of Catalonia, had crossed the Pyrenees and ravag- 
ed Septimania, that ancient appendage of the kingdom of the 
Visigoths. Soon after, the emir Zama established a Mussul- 
man colony at Narbonne, and then advanced towards the 
banks of the Garonne, where he was met and defeated by 
Eudes, duke of Aquitania, near Toulouse (721). Ambiza 
took Nismes, and sacked Carcassone ; and then, says an 
Arabian writer, " the wind of Islamism began to blow from 
all sides against the Christians." Whole provinces were 
given up to their devastations. What escaped the sword fell 
a prey to the flames. The conquerors preserved only what 
they could carry with them. They had burnt the convents 
on the banks of the Rhone, the churches of Lyons, of Beaune, 
and Autun, when a still more terrible attack came to terrify 
Gaul and all Europe with her. Under the orders of the emir 
Abderame, an invading army crossed the Pyrenees, inun- 
dated all the provinces, crushed the troops of the duke of 
Aquitania, the indefatigable defender of southern Gaul, and 
advanced towards the Loire. But this great effort of the 
Mussulman invasion was broken by Charles Martel in the 
plains of Poictiers (732) ; and though there is doubtless much 
of the usual exaggeration in the accounts which have come 
down to us of this field, which the Arabs are said to have 
named the pavement of martyrs, yet it must ever be looked to 
with gratitude as the spot in which the long contest between 
the crescent and the cross for the sovereignty of Europe was 
irrevocably decided. 

132. Establishment of the Saracens in southern France. — 
Christendom was saved : but Europe had still to defend its 
coasts. For a moment Marseilles was in the hands of the 



146 EXCURSIONS OF THE SARACENS. 

Mussulmen (739). Under Al-Hakem began the great mari- 
time expeditions, that resource of a restless spirit when inva- 
sions by land become too difficult or too hazardous. Fifteen 
thousand pirates issued from the ports of Spain, and estab- 
lished their seat in the island of Crete, from whence they 
carried terror through every sea (817). Though driven 
from Narbonne and forced to cross the Pyrenees by Pepin the 
Short, and defeated in Spain by Charlemagne, the Arabs re- 
appeared again in France. Towards 889, twenty pirates 
landed in the gulf of St. Tropes in Provence, massacred the 
inhabitants of the neighboring village, and established them- 
selves upon a rock which commanded the entrance of the 
gulf. This was the origin of the redoubtable port of Fraxi- 
neto, which was enlarged and fortified till it became a kind 
of military republic ; from which the Saracens extended 
their excursions throughout Provence and Dauphiny. At 
last the Hungarians appeared (924), and the Saracens, who 
had possession of all the passes of the Alps, united witij 
them to ravage Helvetia and Valais, of which they remained 
masters for nearly twenty years. Then they fell upon 
northern Italy, burnt Acqui, and ravaged the surrounding 
country. Finally, after the death of Abderame III., Dau- 
phiny was retaken, and Fraxineto, in which the eighty years' 
plunder of the neighboring provinces had been heaped up, fell 
into the hands of the count of Provence (975) : and thus fell 
the Mussulman power in the south of France. 

133. Invasion of Italy. — Conquest of Sardinia, Corsica, 
and Sicily. — At the same time, southern Italy was struggling 
against the still more redoubtable attacks of the Saracens of 
Africa. In 827 the Aglabites made a descent on Sicily, 
got possession of Agrigentum, of Enna (858), of Syracuse, 
which they destroyed (878), and founded a principality with 
Palermo for its capital. Called in as auxiliaries by the par- 
ties which divided the peninsula, sometimes by the Greeks 



EXCURSIONS OF THE SARACENS. 147 

and sometimes by the Beneventans, they took post on Mount 
Gargano and upon the banks of the Garigliano, in order to 
command southern Italy (towards 860), With Sardinia and 
Corsica, they obtained command of the commerce of the west- 
ern Mediterranean. From Tarentum and Bari they sent a 
fleet up the Tiber and burnt the suburbs of Rome. The city 
itself owed its safety to the energy of Pope Leo IV., who 
collected ships and repulsed the invaders. He then walled 
in the quarter of the Vatican, which took the name of the 
Leonine cily (852). Less fortunate, John VIII. (872-882) 
was compelled to promise tribute in order to escape from 
their attacks, and the Italian provinces were ravaged again. 
It was only towards 915, that Pope John X., arming against 
them the Italian troops and the fleet of the Greek emperor, 
succeeded in driving them from their dangerous post of Ga- 
rigliano. The loss of their possessions in Italy dates from 
that time : but the Zeirites still retained possession of Sardi- 
nia, and the Fatimites, conquerors of the Aglab dynasty, of 
Palermo, till the Normans came to snatch the whole of Sicily 
from the hands of the infidels (1006). 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CAEOLINGIAN EMPIKE, 



SUMMARY. 

§ I. Results of the accession of Pepin the Short. — Increase of the' 
influence of the clergy. — Development of the royal power. — Field of 
May. — Expeditions of Pepin the Short against the Saracens, the Aqui- 
tanians, the Saxons, and the Lombards. 

Reign of Charlemagne. — Conquest of Aquitania and Lombardy: 
wars of Saxony : contests with the Saracens : war of Bavaria : expedi- 
tion against the Avars : Charlemagne emperor of the West : his insti- 
tutions. 

§ II. Beginning of the temporal power of the popes. — Rome renounces 
the supremacy of the Eastern Empire and is governed by the popes. — 
Quarrels of the pope and the Lombards : he solicits the aid of France. 
— Pepin liberates Stephen II. — Donation of the Pentapolis and duchy 
of Rome made by Pepin and confirmed by Charlemagne. 

§1. 

HISTORY OF THE REIGNS OF PEPIN AND CHARLEMAGNE. EX- 
TENT OF THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. CIVIL, POLITICAL, 

ECCLESIASTICAL, AND LITERARY INSTITUTIONS OF CHARLE- 
MAGNE. 

134. Result of the accession of Pepin the Short. — The 
accession of Pepin the Short to the throne of France (752) 



REIGNS OF PEPIN AND CHARLEMAGNE. 149 

was followed by great results. It had consummated the 
victory of the Austrasian or Germanic race over that of the 
Neustrians or old Franks. It contributed greatly, also, 
towards augmenting the power of the clergy, which had 
been weakened by the policy of Charles Martel. Pepin, 
raised to the throne under the regis of the church, called in 
prelates to his coronation, and admitted them to the national 
assemblies of the Field of May, which in the beginning had 
been altogether composed of warriors. The Latin language 
too was introduced there, and being the language of the cler- 
gy, was one of the causes of their increasing influence. 
The royal authoi'ity, free as yet from the attacks of the feu- 
dal nobility, increased rapidly under the founders of the new 
dynasty, and recovered for a while from the debasement into 
which it had fallen under the first race. Military glory was 
its chief support, and the first Carolingians were constantly 
engaged in military excursions. 

135. Military expeditions of Pepin the Short. — The reign 
of Pepin served as a prelude to that of Charlemagne. He 
prepared, by brilliant expeditions, the conquests which his 
son terminated so gloriously. 

The hordes of the north, frightened rather than subdued 
by Charles Martel, took up their arms again at the accession 
of the new king, and drove the Franks beyond the Rhine, 
after having massacred the missionaries who had been sent 
to convert and civilize them (753). Pepin penetrates victo- 
riously among the Frisons and Saxons, compels them to make 
peace, and makes them promise, as one of its conditions, that 
they will grant the Catholic priests full liberty to preach the 
gospel among them. On his return from these first cam- 
paigns, he receives the holy oil from the hands of Stephen 
II. (782), and declares himself protector of the sovereign 
pontiff against the ambition of the Lombards. He crossed 
the Alps twice to punish Astolphus, whom he had vainly 



150 REIGNS OF PEPIN AND CHARLEMAGNE. 

warned to break off hostilities against Rome, took from him 
the Campagna, Emilia, and the Pentapolis, and made a dona- 
tion of them to the pope (754-756). This title of protector of 
the Holy See was soon after to win for Charlemagne a new 
crown. 

At the same time, continuing the work begun by Charles 
Martel, Pepin gave the last blow to the Saracen dominion 
in the south of Gaul. Profiting by the contest between the 
Ommiades and the Abbassides, he made himself master of 
Septimania and its capital, Narbonne, which had resisted 
seven years (752-759). Aquitania was still to be conquered. 
Duke Waifer had given an asylum to Grifon, a disinherit- 
ed son of Charles Martel, and the province, still Roman by its 
institutions, its manners, and its language, repelled the Ger- 
man dominion with contempt. Pepin began a war of extir- 
mination against Waifer, which filled, during nine years, the 
most beautiful provinces of the south of France with ruin 
and blood. The death of the duke by assassination, which 
was soon followed by that of the Frank king, suspended the 
hostilities, which were to begin anew under his successors 
(760-768). 

136. Charles and Carloman. — Conquest of Aquitania. — 
Pepin divided his states between his two sons, Charles and 
Carloman, giving Austrasia and Neustria to the first : to the 
second, Bavaria and the southern provinces of Gaul. A re- 
volt of the Aquitanians drew upon them the arms of Charles, 
who subdued them in a single campaign (769). Soon after, 
taking advantage of his brother's death, he had himself pro- 
claimed sole king of the Frank monarchy, without heeding 
the claims of his two nephews (771). 

1.37. Wars against the Saxons. — The following year saw 
the beginning of that terrible war against the Saxons, which, 
though often suspended, filled the greater part of the reign 
of Charlemagne. The Franks, irritated by the massacre of 



REIGNS OF PEPIN AND CHARLEMAGNE. 151 

the Christians, in a city of Fi'isia, invaded the country of the 
Saxons, seized upon the fortress of Ehresburg, destroyed the 
ancient and venerated statue of Arminius (hermansaule), and 
imposed upon their enemies a truce, which was soon broken 
by the Saxons, while Charlemagne was engaged in his two 
successful expeditions against the Lombards (775-776). 
Charles returning, pursued the Saxons into the depths of their 
forests, and compelled them to come in crowds to Paderborn 
and ask for baptism (777). 

But a powerful chief, the brave Witikind, who had re- 
fused to make his submission and taken refuge in Scandina- 
via, profiting by the wars which called Charles into Spain, 
roused his countrymen to another effort. Charles returned, 
defeated them again, and calling in religion to the support 
of his arms, founded numerous abbeys and bishoprics among 
them. Witikind sought him out new enemies among the 
Sclavonians, ai^ exasperated by the massacre of four thou- 
sand five hundred of his countrymen, kept up the contest 
several years longer with the energy of despair. Convinced 
at last of the uselessness of further resistance, the Saxon 
hero received baptism and submitted to the conqueror in the 
assembly of Auigny (785). Occasional revolts still called 
in from time to time the arms of Charlemagne : but the sub- 
mission of the last Saxon chiefs at the diet of Salza (803), 
and the establishment of ten thousand Saxon families in Bel- 
gium and Holland, put an end to this long and sanguinary 
contest (804). 

138. Wars against the Lombards, Saracens, 8fC. — Charle- 
magne emperor. — Great events had been accomplished else- 
where during this long and memorable war. Desiderius, 
king of the Lombards, had drawn upon himself the arms of 
the Frank king, by protecting his nephews and making war 
upon the pope. Charlemagne forced the passages of the 
*Llps, renewed at Rome the donation which his father had 



152 KEIGNS OF PEPIN AND CHAKLEMAGNE. 

made to the Holy See, took Desidei'ius prisoner, shut him 
up in a convent, and had himself crowned king of Lombarr 
dy (774). Soon after, entering Spain at the invitation of a 
Mussulman governor, he subdued the Spanish marches 
beyond the Pyrenees, and preserved his conquest in spite 
of the defeat and death of his nephew, the famous pala- 
din Orlando, in the pass of Roncesvalles (778). His victo- 
rious arms were dreaded by the whole of Europe. Having 
conquered the powerful duke Tassillon of Bavaria, he stripped 
him of his states (788), and sent his son Pepin beyond the 
Danube and the Theiss, to take from the Avars the plunder 
which they had heaped up in their camp. From the banks 
of the Elbe to the Oder, from the shores of the Black Sea to 
the Adriatic, all submitted to his power ; and then the con- 
queror of so many nations, receiving at Rome from the hands 
of Leo III. the imperial crown, renewed that empire of the 
West, which but a little more than three centin-ies before, had 
fallen under the shock of the Barbarians. 

139. Institutions of Charlemagne. — His death. — But a 
purer glory than that of arms belongs to this great man. He 
knew how to organize a coarse and undisciplined society by 
wise institutions, attacking barbarism by a skilful legislation, 
by a regular government, and by the development of civili- 
zation and knowledge. In his celebrated Capitularia, he 
regulates every part of the civil and religious administra- 
tion ; gives a firm and constant support to religious discipline, 
which had fallen into great disorder ; establishes permanent 
magistracies for the first hearing of causes, and superior 
courts, composed of bishops or noblemen, to decide them, 
with a right of appeal to the king's council or the general 
assembly of the nation. These assemblies met twice a year, 
and discussed all the laws, without fettering the royal autho- 
rity, which was supported by a strong civil and military 
organization, and surrounded by the splendor pf a pompous 



ALLIANCE OF THE POPES AND CAROLINGIANS. 153 

ceremonial borrowed from the traditions of the empire of the 
West. The officers of the palace, who had annihilated the 
power of the kings of the first race, became docile instru- 
ments in his hands. The emperor sees and directs every 
thing himself. He inspects his states in all their extent by 
temporary envoys {missi dominici), while local and perma- 
nent agents exercise the different functions of government in 
his name. At the same time he reanimates study by his own 
example, and calls forth some rays of knowledge in this 
dark age. Alcuin, his friend, preceptor, and minister, founds 
the Palatine school in the imperial palace, and establishes 
regular instruction in the monasteries, and in every city 
which was the residence of a bishop. Sublime efforts of a 
great genius, as eager for the conquests of the mind as for 
the conquests of arms, and which have won for his name the 
respect and the admiration of posterity. 

But the day of revival had not yet come, and when Char- 
lemagne died (814) at the height of his glory and his power, 
he carried with him the destinies of his brilliant empire, and 
in a few years every trace of his admirable institutions had 
disappeared. 



§11. 



ALLIANCE OF THE POPES AND CAROLINGIANS. INCREASE OP 

THE STATES OF THE CHURCH. 

140. Rome throws off the supremacy of the Eastern Em- 
pire. — With the aid of the first Carolingians began the de- 
velopment of the temporal power of the popes. 

While the dominion of the Lombards extended over the 
greater part of Italy, Rome, with the Pentapolis and the Ex- 
archate, had continued to acknowledge the authority of the 

7* 



154 ALLIANCE OF THE POPES AND CAROLINGIANS. 

Empire of the East. The authority of the bishops of Rome, 
though great, was purely moral, and in exerting themselves 
against the Lombards in defence of the rights of the empe- 
rors, they were at the same time protecting Catholicism 
against the hated doctrines of Arius. 

Such was the state of things in 726, when Leo the Isau- 
rian issued his edict against the worship of images. The 
indignation of the Romans was universal. They broke the 
statues of the emperor, who had broken those of Christ and 
the saints, and Gregory II., who filled the pontifical chair, 
addressed the emperor in language which sounds much more 
like a threat than a remonstrance. " Renounce," said he, 
"your audacious and fatal enterprise. Reflect, tremble, and 
repent. The converted Barbarians burn to avenge the per- 
secuted church. If you persist in your designs, it is not 
upon us that the blood will fall." The emperor is said to 
have replied by attempting to have the pope assassinated. 
Then the Romans rose against him, and with the aid of the 
Venetians and the Lombards, drove away the Byzantine offi- 
cers. The authority of the imperial prefect seemed to de- 
volve upon the pope as his natural heir, and Rome established 
a republic, with her bishop at its head. The territories of 
the new state extended from Viterbo to Terracina, and from 
Narni to the mouth of the Tiber. Still the tie which had so 
long bound her to the East was not wholly broken. The 
new pope, Gregory III. (731), continued, as his predecessor 
had done before him, to respect the nominal sovereignty of 
the emperor, by using his name in public documents : but at 
the same time he hurled a decree of excommunication against 
all heretics, and in his view Leo was certainly of the num- 
ber. All possibility of reconciliation was cut off by an at- 
tack of the Byzantine fleet, which exasperated the Romans 
to the utmost. A few yeai's afterwards, a new pope (741), 
Zacchary, assumed his authority without asking the imperial 



ALLIANCE OP THE POPES AND CAROLINGIANS. 155 

confirmation, and the temporal power of the popes over Rome 
was definitively established. 

141. Donation of the Pentapolis and duchy of Rome to 
the Holy See. — But there could be no cordial union between 
the pope and the Lombards. The taint of Arianism was 
still upon them, and prevented them from amalgamating with 
the native Italians. They had won too large a part of the 
peninsula not to wish for the whole. And when the Greek 
emperor was rejected, they naturally sought to take his place. 
Luitprand had been disarmed by the eloquence of Gregory 
II., but Astolphus seized upon the exarchate and Pentapolis, 
and advanced pretensions upon Rome, which he supported 
by a powerful army (752). No succor could be had from 
Constantinople, and neither the pope nor the Romans were 
willing to accept the dominion of the Lombards. Stephen II. 
turned towards France. Pepin, who had just been conse- 
crated by the pope, accepted the mission, defeated the Lom- 
bards, and made him a donation (756) of the Pentapolis and 
duchy of Rome, which became the patrimony of St. Peter. 
Charlemagne completed his father's work by confirming the 
donation, and received the imperial crown as a reward for 
his sanction of the temporal sovereignty of the Holy See 
(800). 

Thus was consummated that fatal act which united the 
temporal and spiritual power in the same hands, and made 
the servants of Christ princes of this world. The appeal to 
the Franks was an act of self-preservation ; the acceptance 
of supreme authority at Rome may have seemed a necessity of 
position ;' but it is vain to look for legality or justice in acts 
which began in violence and ended in fraud. The Frank 
monarch gave what his swoi'd had given him, and the pope 
readily lent his divine office to human ends. 



CHAPTER IX. 



ESTABLISHMENT OP THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 



SUMMARY. 

§ I. State of the empire at the death of Charlemagne.— Differences 
of interests, manners, and origin, among the people subjected to his do- 
minion : this immediate cause of dissolution favored by the principle of 
divisions. — First division of the empire under Lewis the Debonair. — 
Weakness of this prince. — Nature of the contest between his sons. — 
Last reunion of the different parts of the empire under Charles the Fat. 
— Final division. — Beginning of the Norman invasion. 

§ II. Danger of the kingdom of France, exposed to the attacks of 
the Normans, the Sclavonians, and the Saracens. — Ascendency of the 
family of the Dukes of France. — Accession of Eudes and Robert, to the 
detriment of Charles the Simple. — Power of Hugh the Great. — Raoul. 
— Lewis of Outremer. — Lothario. — Lewis V. — Accession of Hugh Ca- 
pet. — State of royalty at the beginning of the third dynasty. — Reigns of 
Hugh Capet, Robert II., Henry I., Philip I. 

§ III. Of the feudal system : its origin and its development. — Multi- 
plication of beneficiary estates. — Diminution of allodial. — Commenda- 
tion of persons and lands. — Relations between lord paramount and vas- 
sal. — Progress of feudalism favored by social disorders and troubles. — It 
soon loses its primitive character and becomes an instrument of oppres- 
sion. — ^^Statc of feudalism in the different countries of Europe. — Compa- 
rison between the feudal system in France and in Germany. 



Charlemagne's successors. 157 



§1. 



HISTORY OF CHARLEMAGNE S SUCCESSORS TO THE REIGN OF 

LEWIS OF OUTREMER. CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF THE CA- 

ROLINGIANS AND DISMEMBERMENT OF THEIR EMPIRE. DIF- 
FERENCES OF RACE AND INTEREST BETWEEN THE PEOPLE 
OF THE EMPIRE. SEPARATION OF THE KINGDOMS AND PRO- 
VINCES. — BEGINNING OF FEUDALISM. 

142. State of the empire at the death of Charlemagne. — • 
Causes of dissolution. — The edifice which Charlemagne had 
constructed so laboriously, required his powerful hand to 
sustain it. The moment that was removed, it fell, and all 
the quicker for its magnitude. A double cause of dissolu- 
tion and ruin menaced this vast empire, so wondrously built 
up, in the midst of the people who had divided the west 
among themselves. One dominion had been extended over 
nations differing in their manners, their laws, their religion, 
and their language : the Mussulmen of the north of Spain ; 
the half converted pagans of Saxony ; the Italians, compelled 
to renounce their nationality ; the Franks of the south, jealous 
of the supremacy of the Franks of the north ; the Germans, 
rivals and soon enemies of the Franks ; all aspired to an in- 
dependence which the subjection of a few years had not 
been able to efface from their memories. If the exploits of 
the son of Pepin had stopped for ever the German invasion, 
other Barbarians were gathering along the distant frontiers 
of the Carolingian empire : the Danes, the Sclavonians, the 
Saracens, waited only the death of the great emperor to take 
back with usury the tributes which he had imposed upon 
some of their tribes ; and Charlemagne himself had seen 
with tears (ch. x,, no. 157) the signs of this new invasion. 
To stifle all these germs of internal division, to repulse with 



158 chaklemagne's successors. 

energy the repeated efforts of the Barbarians, to sustain an 
incessant contest both within and without, was a task that 
was soon to crush the unskilful and divided heirs of the 
throne of Charlemagne. 

143. Leiois the Delonair. — Division of the empire. — Lew- 
is the Debonair (814-840), initiated in all the great designs 
of his father, paralyzed them all by his weakness. Faithful 
to the disastrous principle of division, he divides the power 
among his sons, thus giving, of his own accord, leaders to 
all these nations which asked nothing but the opportunity for 
beginning the contest anew. From that time the history of 
the Carolingian empire is a history of the quarrels of races, 
embittered by the personal quarrels of their princes. No 
sooner had the division of Aix la Chapelle (817) made Lo- 
thario heir of the imperial dignity, Pepin king of Aquitania, 
and Lewis king of Bavaria, than Bernard, Charlemagne's 
grandson, whom he himself had named king of Italy, pro- 
tested, sword in hand, and in the name of the cities and 
princes of the peninsula, against a decision which made him 
his cousin's dependent. Conquered and condemned to lose 
his eyes, he died from the consequences of this barbarous 
punishment, and Italy soon passed into the hands of Lotha- 
rio. Lewis, touched with remorse at the hapless fate of his 
nephew, did public penance for his crime, as Theodosius had 
done for the massacre of Thessalonica. But the humilia- 
tions to which he subjected himself at Attigny, before the 
assembly of the Franks, served only to degrade the imperial 
dignity and shake his throne (822). Insurrections broke out 
in every part of the empire. The Obotrites, the Sorabians, 
and Sclavonians of the east attack Lewis of Bavaria ; the 
Bulgarians invade Pannonia ; the Basques resume their lib- 
erty ; Brittany is in commotion : and the imprudent empe- 
ror excites new troubles and awakens the hatred of his 
family, by annulling his first division, in order to give Alls- 



Charlemagne's successors. 159 

mania, Suabia, and Burgundy to Charles, the son of a second 
wife, Judith of Bavaria (829). Abandoned by his army, 
dethroned by his sons (830), betrayed a second time by his 
soldiers at the Field of Lies (833), he is at last ignominious- 
ly degraded by Lothario, who seeks to build up the imperial 
power to his own advantage. 

Lewis and Pepin, alarmed at Lothario's ambitious pro- 
jects, liberate their father, and re-establish him solemnly 
in the diet of Thionville (835). But he soon draws on him- 
self new misfortunes by new faults. He strips the sons of 
Pepin, who had died in 638, to give their inheritance to 
Charles, and reduces the dominions of his eldest son to Italy. 
Soon after, yielding to his menaces, he makes a final division, 
in which Lothario receives Germany and Italy, Charles 
nearly the whole of France, Lewis Bavaria and Provence. 
But no permanent peace could arise from these arbitrary di- 
visions, which clashed with the interests of the princes, and 
still more with that of their people. Lewis of Germany, 
stripped for his brothers, reclaimed his dominions : Aquitania 
proclaimed under the name of Pepin II., the eldest son of her 
king Pepin, and the death of Lewis the Debonair broke the 
feeble tie which held these discordant elements together. 

144. Contests of the sons of Lewis the Debonair. — Treaty 
of Verdun. — The war continued between the Franks and 
Charles the Bald, Aquitania and Pepin II., the Germans and 
Lewis the Germanic, the Italians and Lothario, who had worn 
for twenty years the imperial crown, and claimed the supre- 
macy over all the princes of his race. The rivals met in 
the plains of Fontenay (841). That terrible day in which 
Lewis the Germanic and Charles the Bald fought against 
Lothario and Pepin, and which cost, it is said, the lives of 
nearly a hundred thousand men, saw the unity of the empire 
broken for ever. The conquerors, Lewis and Charles, 
strengthened their alliance by the act of Strasburgh, and 



160 Charlemagne's successors. 

the oath pronounced in two languages, that it might be un- 
derstood by both armies, showed for the first time how com- 
pletely France had become separated from Germany (842). 
Soon after, the general exhaustion brought about the treaty 
of Verdun, which only consecrated the results of a division 
which had already been completed. Lothario received for 
his share Italy with the countries between the Alps, the 
Rhone, the Soane, the Moselle, and the Rhine, which took 
the name of Lotharingia : Charles received Neustria, which 
with Aquitania formed the kingdom of France. Lewis pre- 
served Germany (843). The imperial sceptre, which seem- 
ed destined to control and unite all these different powers, 
was for a long time little else than an object of discord, pass- 
ing successively from Italy to France, and from France to 
Germany. Pepin, abandoned by Lothario, defended himself 
twenty years in Aquitania, with a thousand alternations of 
reverse and success; often aided by the Normans and the 
Saracens, and always sustained by the hatred of the Aquita- 
nians for the Frank dominion. He fell, at last, a victim to 
treachery (863), and expiated his courageous resistance by 
perpetual captivity. 

145. History of the Carolingians during the reign' of 
Charles the Bald. — The divisions did not end with the dis- 
memberment of Verdun. The Aglabite Saracens, called in, 
in turns, by the Greeks and the Lombards of Beneventum, 
seized upon Sicily (827 et sqq.), established themselves in 
Sardinia (about 840), and menaced Rome and the southern 
provinces of Italy, until they were repulsed by Lewis II. , 
Lothario's son and successor in the imperial crown (855). 
This prince had the kingdom of Italy, while his bro- 
thers Charles and Lothario II. established themselves, the 
first in Burgundy, the second in Lotharingia or Lorraine. 
Lewis II. passed all his reign in contending against the in- 
vasions of the Saracens and the revolts of the Lombard 



chaklemagne's sttccessoes. 161 

dukes, who, masters of Beneventum, Naples, Capua, and 
Salerno, divided all the south of the peninsula into inde- 
pendent principalities. 

Lewis the Germanic was more successful in his contests 
with the Bohemians, Sorabians, and Moravians, whom the 
exploits of his three sons, Lewis of Saxony, Carloman, and 
Charles the Fat, compelled, in 874, to take the oath of fidelity. 
In the kingdom of Charles the Bald, a contest had begun 
with those terrible Northmen, who were to take their part in 
the inheritance of Charlemagne, after having laid it waste 
with fire and sword (v. ch. x. § i.). At the same time Brit- 
tany was formed into a separate kingdom under Nomenoe, 
whose son Erispre was acknowledged by Charles the Bald, 
still engaged in the wars of Aquitania (851). These were 
scarcely ended, by the defeat and captivity of Pepin, when 
the death of Lothario's three sons threw open to the ambi- 
tious king of France, Lorraine, half of Burgundy, and the 
imperial sceptre. Charles hastened To be crowned at Rome, 
in spite of the threats of his eldest brother, Lewis the Ger- 
manic, who invoked the privilege of his birthright. 

Lewis died in 876, but his sons Lewis of Saxony and 
Carloman of Bavaria revived his claims, and invaded Lor= 
raine and Italy. Charles the Bald, surrounded on all sides 
by dangers which his insatiable ambition had excited, assail- 
ed by his nephews, harassed by the Normans from without, 
and within by the nobles, who having grown powerful amid 
these dissensions, had resolved to make their governments and 
dignities hereditary (capitulary of Kiersy on the Oise) (877), 
died on the frontiers of Italy, leaving to his son Lewis the 
Stammerer an authority barely recognized in a few pro- 
vinces. 

146. Lewis the Stammerer and his sons. — Charles the Fat. 
— Dissolution of the Carolingian empire. — Lewis the Stam- 
merer, in a reign of eighteen months, completed the ruin of 



162 CHARLEMAGNE S SUCCESSORS. 

the royal authority, by lavishing his father's treasures upon 
the nobles, and granting them the royal domains as heredita- 
ry property. At his death, his sons, Lewis III. and Carlo- 
man, had to contend with the Normans, whom they defeated 
in several battles, with Lewis of Saxony, who wrested from 
them Lorraine, and with Boson, son-in-law of the emperor 
Lewis IL, who had himself proclaimed king of Provence 
and Burgundy by the bishops, and kept his crown in spite 
of all the efforts of the two kings, who died shortly after 
(882-884). The old domain of Lewis the Germanic beyond 
the Rhine passed to the hands of Charles the Fat, sole heir 
of his brothers Lewis of Saxony and Carloman of Bavaria. 
Charles, sovereign of Italy, Saxony, Bavaria, and Suabia, 
filled in 881 the imperial throne, which had been vacant 
since the death of Charles the Bald. Finally proclaimed 
king of France after the death of the two sons of Lewis the 
Stammerer (884) to the prejudice of Charles the Simple, post- 
humous son of this prince, he saw himself at the head of 
an empire almost as vast as that of Charlemagne. But the 
attacks of the Sclavonians, Normans, and Saracens, soon 
showed how vain a possession such authority was in such 
feeble hands. Paris, besieged by the Normans, was valiant- 
ly defended by Eudes and Robert, sons of Robert the Strong, 
duke of France. Charles was called to their aid, but instead 
of facing the enemy, bought their retreat by money (886), 
though at the head of a superior force. Next year he was 
solemnly deposed at the diet of Trihur. 

This was the signal of a general dissolution of the Caro- 
lingian empire, upon whose ruins rose the kingdoms of Ger- 
many, France, Italy, the two Burgundy s, Lorraine, and 
Navarre. 



ORIGIN OF THE CAPETIAN DYNASTY. 163 



§11. 



ORIGIN AND FEEBLE BEGINNING OF THE CAPETIAN DYNASTY 
IN THE MIDST OF FEUDAL FRANCE. HUGH, ROBERT, HEN- 
RY I., PHILIP I. 

147. Kings of France. — Accession of Eudes, Robert, and 
Raoul, to the disadvantage of Charles the Simple. — The king- 
dom of France, reduced to narrow limits and imperfectly re- 
organized after so many rude shocks, seems incapable of 
contending against the terrible pirates of the north, the Scla- 
vonians on the east, and the Saracens on the south. The 
Normans carry off bands of captives from every quarter, and 
overrun the country unresisted. While the degenerate de- 
scendants of Charlemagne find no other way of repulsing the 
invasion but by tributes and subsidies, the country is com- 
pelled to organize in its own defence ; the people grouping 
around the principal lords and accepting their authority in 
exchange for their protection. One family above the others, 
the family of the counts of Paris, whose fortunes recall those 
of the Heristalls, takes advantage of the weakness of the suc- 
cessors of Charlemagne to govern in their stead. The nobles 
refusing to obey Charles the Simple, as yet hardly eight 
years old, call to the throne Eudes, count of Paris, who had 
saved the capital ; but while he is engaged in contests with 
the Normans and the Aquitanians, who had again revolted, 
Charles III. the Simple, is proclaimed by the archbishop of 
Rheims (893), and Eudes, after a civil war of three years, 
is compelled to share the throne with him. He dies soon 
after ; and the feeble Charles, unable to sustain so great a bur- 
then, and stripped of Normandy and Brittany by the famous 
Rollo (v. No. 158), vainly strives to seize the vacant inherit- 
ance of his cousin Louis the Child in Germany (v. No. 170), 



164 ORIGIN OF THE CAPETIAN DYNASTY. 

and soon sees himself threatened in his own kingdom by the 
revolt of the nobles, who proclaim in his place Robert, the 
brother of Eudes (923). He defeats Eudes, who falls in the 
battle ; but is defeated himself by Hugh the Great, his rival's 
son (923), who, choosing rather to give than to wear the 
crown, places upon the throne Raoul, Duke of Burgundy ; 
while Charles is removed from prison to prison, the sport 
of his vassals, to die at last at the castle of Peronne (929). 
Raoul is compelled to take part as ally of the duke of France 
in the disputes between this powerful vassal and his brother 
nobles. 

148. The last Carolingians. — Accession of Hugh Capet. — 
At his death, the throne remained vacant for several months 
(936). At last Hugh the Great proclaimed a Carolingian, 
Leiois of Outremer, son of Charles the Simple, whom he re- 
called from England. But his attempts to resume some 
portion of the authority which belonged to his title, were 
punished by a long imprisonment in the castle of Laon, last 
of the possessions of the kings of France. The intervention 
of the pope and emperor of Germany restored him to liberty 
(950); and at his death, his son Lothario obtained the crown 
from Hugh as price of the investiture of Aquitania. This 
powerful vassal bequeathed, on dying, Burgundy to his eldest 
son ; and to the second, Hugh Capet, the county of Paris and 
duchy of France. Lothario's reign was long, and filled up 
by disputes with the empei'or of Germany. The royal au- 
thority continued to languish in his hands, as it had done in 
that of his immediate predecessors. His son Lewis V. the 
Idle merely ascended the throne (986-987) to leave it at his 
death to the new dynasty of the Capets. 

149. State of royalty at the heginning of the third dy- 
nasty. — But although the most powerful of the French lords 
had exchanged the title of duke of France for that of king, 
he had not changed the nature of his authority. He was no 



ORIGIN OF THE CAPETIAN DYNASTY. 165 

more powerful as king than he had been as duke, and those 
of the great vassals who consented to acknowledge his 
honoraiy supremacy never ceased to consider him as their 
peer. It was long before the new dynasty, which, like all 
the other great families, depended for its influence upon the 
extent and wealth of its domains, could exercise any of the 
real functions of royalty. 

The sovereign power in France had in reality been par. 
celled out into as many fractions as there were great lord- 
ships : and had neither vigor nor action till the feudal chain 
was broken by the development of the commons, which 
established new relations between royalty and the nation for 
the mutual strength and protection of both. 

150. Reign of Hugh Capet, Robert, Henry L, and Phi- 
lip I. — The reign of the first of the Capetians recognized by a 
small portion of nobles was filled with his contests with Charles 
of Lorraine, uncle and lawful heir of Lewis V. Charles would 
seem to have possessed some energy, for he gained posses- 
sion of Laon and Rheims ; but his success was of no avail 
against treachery, and the war ended in his captivity (991). 
Meanwhile the great vassals, without troubling themselves 
about the authority of the king, desolated France by per- 
petual rivalries. This period of dissension and anarchy 
continued throughout the reign of the good king Robert II., 
son of Hugh Capet (996-1031), which was troubled by do- 
mestic discord and the terror of the whole nation at the ap- 
proach of the year thousand, which was looked to as the end 
of the world. After the death of this prince, whom his piety 
and love of justice had endeared to all France, Henry I. 
(1031-1060) had to contend first against his brother Robert, 
whom he conquered at last with the aid of Robert the Devil, 
duke of Normandy ; and then the counts of Burgundy and 
Blois, whom he subdued with the assistance of the count of 
Anjou. After this, he was attacked by William the Bastard, 



166 GENERAL IDEA OF FEUDALISM IN EUROPE. 

the new duke of Normandy, and compelled to accept a dis 
advantageous peace while the kingdom was a prey to all the 
horrors of the plague, famine, and private wars. These last, 
the church endeavored to stop by the Truce of God, which, 
under penalty of excommunication, forbade all hostilities 
during Advent, Lent, and every week from Thursday even- 
ing to Sunday evening. 

The reign oi Philip I. (1060-1108) was distinguished by 
great events in which he had scarcely any part. The con- 
quest of England by the Duke of Normandy, that of Italy 
by some Norman knights, the establishment of the kingdom 
of Portugal, and the first crusade (v. chs. x., xii., xviii.), 
were all accomplished while the king of France, indifferent 
to the glory of his cotemporaries, was abandoning himself to 
shameful passions, or submitting to be disgracefully beaten 
by his vassals. After an unsuccessful contest with the count 
of Flanders (1071), he was menaced in his capital by Wil- 
liam the Conqueror of England, and only saved by his death : 
and becoming at last an object of contempt to all, was de- 
clared unworthy to wear the crown. 



III. 



GENERAL IDEA OF FEUDALISM IN EUROPE, AND PARTICULARLY 
IN FRANCE. IMPORTANCE OF LANDED PROPERTY. ALLODI- 
UMS AND FIEFS. INHERITANCE. RESPECTIVE RIGHTS AND 

DUTIES OF THE HOLDERS OF FIEFS. FEUDAL HIERARCHY. 

ROYALTY. 

151. Of the feudal system. — Its origin. — The elevation of 
the Capetian dynasty marks the epoch during which feudalism, 
in its full power, prevails throughout France and the greater 
part of Europe. The creation of hereditaiy benefices, 



GENERAL IDEA OF FEUDALISM IN EUROPE. 167 

granted with certain recognized obligations, had laid the first 
foundations of feudalism in the landed aristocracy (v. ch. iv. 
§ i.). Benefices, in the beginning, were conferred by the 
sovereign himself, establishing relations of direct subordina- 
tion between him and his subjects. Soon the subjects them- 
selves, anxious to form similar ties of dependence for their 
own advantage, began to grant parts of their own domains to 
inferior vassals, on the same conditions on which they had 
received them. Thus were established the different degrees 
of the feudal hierarchy. But it owed its development more 
than all to the constant shocks of a long period of disorder, 
which led to the diminution of the class of freemen, and the 
disappearance of free or allodial property, the surest guaran- 
tee of personal freedom. In a society in which the sovereign 
power, unable to secure the rights of individuals, was in 
most cases compelled to let every man defend himself, inde- 
pendence was full of danger for the weak, and served only 
to expose them to the aggressions of the strong. The neces- 
sity of securing an effectual protection introduced the cus- 
tom of commendation. The holder of a small allodium, re- 
nouncing his sterile and perilous rights, surrendered his lands 
to some noble, from whom he received them again as a bene- 
fice, taking the oath of fidelity and homage, binding himself 
to follow him in his wars, to serve him at the risk of fortune 
and life, and pay certain Jines of more or less extent. In 
exchange for this, the lord promised him justice and protec- 
tion, an asylum in danger, and defence sword in hand. 
Such were the principal relations which feudal homage estab- 
lished between sovereign and vassal. (For a fuller devel- 
opment v. supplement.) 

152. Development of feudalism. — Alteration of its primi- 
tive character. — Feudalism, repressed in France by the strong 
hand of Charlemagne, gained strength after his death, and 
was rapidly developed amid the endless wars which arose 



168 GENERAL IDEA OF FEUDALISM IN ETJEOPE. 

from the divisions and dismemberment of the empire, during 
which the sovereign had constant need of the aid and support 
of his vassals. At length not only lands but dignities be- 
came hereditary (capitulary of Kiersy, 877) : the impover- 
ished kings having no longer any domains to distribute, 
granted the civil and military offices under the title of fiefs, 
and thus the whole social system was changed. 

But this excessive development changed also the original 
character of feudalism. Instead of securing faithful servants 
to the king, the lord paramount, it raised him powerful rivals; 
and the lords, masters of their government to perpetuity, 
powerful by the extent of their domains and the number of 
their vassals, considered themselves as petty sovereigns, and 
took but little thought of a supremacy which they could re- 
sist with impunity. The royal sovereignty seemed annihi- 
lated ; and there seemed to be scarcely any difference be- 
tween the power of the great feudal lords and that of a king 
who had no real authority but a suzerain's over the vassals 
on his own domains. 

If we consider the relations between vassals and their 
rear-vassals, we shall acknowledge >th% feudalism, rising 
from the wants of society, rendered real service by develop- 
ing generous ideas, consecrating good faith, and preserving a 
certain degree of discipline. But still even here it often 
wandered from its aim. The feudal lords disregarded the 
rights of their inferiors, which no superior influence com- 
pelled them to respect. The inferior suzerains, instead of 
becoming the protectors, were the tyrants of their vassals, 
who were reduced to the condition of serfs, and groaned 
under a long and bitter oppression. 

153. State of feudalism in the different countries of Eu- 
rope. — The feudal system was established with great regu- 
larity in England after the Norman conquest, and Scotland 
borrowed it from England. The Normans, who carried it 



GENERAL IDEA OF FEUDALISM IN EUROPE. 169 

with them into southern Italy, found that it had already been 
introduced there by the Lombards of Beneventum. It seems 
to have been introduced into the northern provinces of Spain at 
the same time as in the south of France. In the last, however, 
free estates were numerous at all periods. In Aragon it re- 
ceived a full development : but less in Castile and Portugal, 
where fiefs were little used. Neither did it take a strong 
hold in the noi'th and east of Europe, in Sweden, Denmark, 
Bohemia, and Hungary. In France and Germany its reign 
was more general, although it led in each country to very 
different results. In France, where it seemed upon the point 
of annihilating the royal authority, a bitter contest soon be- 
gan, in which the latter was almost always victorious. In 
Germany, the sovereign authority, united and strong at the 
accession of the Saxon dynasty, when it was so weak and 
divided in France, sustained itself for some time with all the 
splendor of the imperial dignity, and the emperor disposed 
according to his own good pleasure of the high offices which 
in France had become hereditary. But when royalty began 
to regain strength in France, it had already lost it beyond 
the Rhine : and we shall see the turbulence of the German 
princes, the contests of the priesthood and the empire, and 
the disastrous wars of Italy, prepare the way for that inde- 
pendence and supremacy of the great feudal lords, which 
reached its height in the thirteenth century, and reduced the 
emperor to the state of the mere head of a confederation, 
while the kings of France were marching with rapid strides 
towards absolute power. 



CHAPTER X. 



INVASIONS OF THE NOETHMEN. 



SUMMARY. 

§ I. Religion and manners of the Northmen. — Sea-kings. — First ex- 
cursions of the Northmen, and first establishment on the different coasts 
of Europe. — Their expeditions against the Carolingian empire. — Their 
stations on the French coast. — Irruptions into the provinces. — Neustria 
granted to Rollo. — Foundation of the duchy of Normandy. 

§ II. Youth of William the Conqueror. — He disputes Harold's right 
to the throne of England. — Battle of Hastings. — William crowned at 
Westminster. — Sequel of the conquest. — Desperate struggle. — WUliam'a 
cruelty. — Massacres of Northumberland. — The outlaws. — Organization 
of the Normans after the conquest — Introduction of the feudal sys- 
tem. — Division of lands among the conquerors. — Oppression of the con- 
quered. — Game laws, &c. 

§ III. State of Italy. — First appearance of the Normans in Italy. — 
Expedition of the sons of Tancred of Hauteville. — Conquest of Puglia. — 
Arrival of Robert Guiscard and Roger. — Conquest of Sicily and South- 
ern Italy. — Exploits of Guiscard. — Union of the county of Sicily and 
Norman duchies of Italy. 

Roger II., first king of the two Sicilies. — Wars against the Greeks 
and Germans. — Contest between William II. and Frederic Barbarossa. 
— Marriage of Henry of Germany and Constance of Sicily. — War be- 
tween Henry and Tancred. — William IH., Tancred's son, dethroned. — 
The kingdom of the two Sicilies united to the empire. 



INVASIONS OF THE NORTHMEN. 171 



INVASIONS OF THE NORTHMEN IN THE NINTH AND TENTH CEN- 
TURIES. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NORTHMEN IN NEUSTRIA. 

154. Religion of the Northmen. — The Northmen came 
originally from Cimbria and Scandinavia, the Denmark, Swe- 
den, and Norway of modern Europe. They sprang from 
the same race with the Franks and Anglo-Saxons, whose 
language they understood ; but the conversion of the latter 
to Christianity, had broken the ties which had bound them to 
their Scandinavian brethren. The Northmen, in the eighth 
century, still faithful to their ancient traditions, adored Odin, 
the legislator of these regions, whom they had made their god. 
According to the Scandinavian mythology, Odin, and Frigga 
his wife, live in a cidatel inaccessible to the attacks of the 
evil genii. His son Thor, who next to him is the strongest 
of gods and men, is armed with iron gauntlets and a club, 
with which he crushes all his enemies. Thor is the first 
of the Ases, the divine race of Odin, who preside over the 
destinies of men, sustain the warrior's courage, and inspire 
those warlike songs which the bards sing at the banquets 
of heroes. Odin sends into the midst of battle the virgin 
Walkyries, to select the warriors that are to perish, and guide 
them across the narrow bridge which leads to heaven, and 
of which the rainbow is the visible part. It is they also who 
pour out the flowing cup of beer and hydromel ; while the 
miraculous wild-boar, which, after having nourished the Wal- 
halla, comes to life again every evening, is served up for the 
feast. Cowards, on the contrary, return to the empire of 
death, where the palace of Anguish, the table of Hunger, and 
the couch of Leanness await them. 

155. Manners of the Northmen. — Sea-kings. — This war- 



172 INVASIONS OF THE NORTHMEN. 

like religion inspired the Northmen with contempt for life 
and invincible bravery. War and warlike exercises filled 
up the whole of their adventurous existence. To contend in 
feats of strength and agility, to climb steep rocks, run along 
the gunwale of a skiff, jump lightly from oar to oar with the 
regular movement of the rowers, throw two javelins together, 
fight with either hand with equal dexterity, swim across an 
arm of the sea, subdue a rebellious steed, spring upon him at 
every gait, drink beer in the skull of an enemy ; such were 
the games of the pirate from whom death drew nothing but a 
smile, and for whom the field of battle had all the charms 
of a young bride. Scattered along the Scandinavian coast 
under a cold and sombre sky, on an arid and ungrateful soil 
which scarcely gave its inhabitants food, the Northmen 
waited in their smoky cabins the end of the long winter 
months. As soon as spring opened the sea to their ships, the 
youngest sons of their sovereign, whom the right of primo- 
geniture excluded from the paternal inheritance, set forth 
with the boldest companions to seek kingdoms for themselves. 
The same chief was their commander when they landed. 
They saluted him with the name of king : but it was only in 
battle, or on the sea, that he was king. For in the banquet 
they sat in circle, and the beer-horn passed from hand to 
hand without distinction of first or last. The king of the sea, 
or the king of the fight, was followed with fidelity and obeyed 
with zeal ; for he was renowned as the bravest of the brave, 
as one who had never slept under a boarded roof, or drunk by 
the side of a sheltered fire. The Northmen cared but little 
whither they were going. They launched their light barks, 
and abandoned them to the guidance of the winds. Some- 
times they set forth during a storm, sure of coming upon their 
prey unawares, and steered cheerfully towards plunder under 
the protection of the tempest. Such were these redoubtable 
pirates, who after having terrified all Europe by their ravages 



INVASIONS OF THE NORTHMEN. 173 

and frightful cruelty, became the founders of vast and power- 
ful states. 

156. First excursions of the Northmen. — Under the name 
of Varegues, they laid at Novgorod and Kief the first founda- 
tions of the Russian empire (862) : Iceland fell into their 
power in 874 ; and in the British Isles they renewed all the 
terrors of the Saxon invasion (v. ch. iii.). In Ireland (to- 
wards 796), they founded or conquered the cities of Dublin, 
Waterford, and Limerick. They invaded the Orcades, the 
Hebrides, and Shetland. Their depredations extended soon 
to Spain, where the Mussulmen defended themselves vigor- 
ously, though the distance, perhaps, was their most effectual 
protection. But the Carolingian states, which three hundred 
leagues of sea-coast exposed to every attack, became the chief 
object of their enterprises. Their attacks were retarded for 
a while by the genius of Charlemagne. Numerous vessels 
were equipped along the coasts, and the beacon of Caligula 
raised again to lighten the sea. But one day (808), near a 
port of the Mediterranean^Charlemagne descried the long- 
boats of the Northmen and wept. " Do you know," said he, 
to his attendants, " why I weep so bitterly ? It certainly 
is not for myself that I fear. But I am deeply grieved that 
those pirates should have come so near the coast during my 
lifetime ; and still more, when I think of all that they will do 
to my children and their people." In fact, his death was the 
signal for a second invasion of France : and the descents 
of the Northmen became frequent, or rather continued till 
their final establishment in Neustria. 

157. Enterprises of the Northmen against the Carolingian 
empire. — Charlemagne's successors called the barbarians of 
their own accord, and were imprudent enough to employ 
them in their private wars. From 830, a band established 
themselves near the mouth of the Loire in the isle of Her, 
which took the name of Noirmoutier from a monastery 



174 INVASIONS OF THE NORTHMEN. 

which they had burned on landuig. This was the first of 
those stations from which they set out to ascend the rivers, 
and where they deposited their booty. Another island which 
was ceded to them by the first Lothario, at the mouth of the 
Scheldt, became one of their most formidable retreats, and 
was enriched with the spoils of western France. Hastings, 
who was born a Frank, and had fled from home and turned 
pirate, ascended the Loire, plundered Amboise, possessed 
himself of Nantes (843), and extended his devastations into 
Italy. Soon Mans, Orleans, Angers, fell into the hands 
of the Northmen. In the south of France, the banks of the 
Charente, the Garonne, and Adour were ravaged ; and Bor- 
deaux was sacked three times. Rouen had been burnt in 
841, and the pirates had stationed themselves in the island 
of Oyssel. Four years afterwards, Regnar Lodbrock ad- 
vanced to the walls of Paris ; and finding them defenceless, 
plundered the city. Charles the Bald not daring to fight, 
bought his retreat with a large sum of money. The North- 
men swore by their gods and their arms, that they would 
never return : but in twelve years they reappeared in still 
greater numbers, and burnt the church of St. Genevieve 
(8-57). The brave duke of France, Robert the Strong, who 
had several times repulsed their bands from the banks of the 
Loire, fell in resisting a new invasion (866). At the same 
time, Lorraine and the banks of the Rhine were the scenes 
of frightful devastation. At length in 885, Siegfried ap- 
peared before Paris with seven hundred boats. Gozlin the 
bishop, and Eudes count of Paris, defended intrepidly the 
two wooden bridges which united the Island of the City to 
the shore. But Charles the Fat fearing to fight the Barba- 
rians, though superior to them in number, concluded a 
shameful treaty (886). (v. No. 146.) 

158. Foundation of the duchy of Normandy by Rollo. — 
Meanwhile the Northmen, gorged with booty and weary of 



CONQUEST OF GREAT BRITAIN BY WILLIAM. 175 

plunder, began to demand lands and domains instead of tri- 
bute. Rorik, one of the pirates of the Scheldt, had obtained 
the duchy of Frisia from Charles the Bald (870). A new 
chief, Rollo, ascended the Seine and possessed himself of 
Rouen. These wanderers, driven from their own homes by 
the barren soil and severe climate, needed somewhere an- 
other home which they could call their own. Charles the 
Simple saw that this was the only way of securing Paris and 
his kingdom from new assaults, and concluded at St. Clair 
on the Ept (912) a treaty with Rollo, by which he gave him 
his daughter Gisela in marriage, and the city of Rouen with 
the western part of Neustria for her dower. Rollo became 
a Christian and duke of Normandy, and in this direction the 
ravages of the Northmen ceased. The churches and abbeys 
which had been destroyed, were rebuilt ; the ramparts of the 
cities repaired ; a severe police repressed robbery, and the 
country from a desert became a rich and flourishing pro- 
vince. Brittany, too, was granted to him by subinfeudation, 
to revert, like Normandy, under certain circumstances to the 
king of France. 



§11. 

CONQUEST OF GREAT BRITAIN BY WILLIAM. BATTLE OF HAST- 
INGS. DIVISION OF THE CONQUERED TERRITORY. 

159. Youth of William the Conqueror. — The Northmen 
established in Neustria by victory and conquest, were none 
the less subject to the influence of France. The feudal in- 
stitutions were confirmed in the new fief under the sons of 
Rollo : the French clergy exercised a powerful influence 
over the converted Barbarians, and Normandy in a few years 
became a French province. 



176 CONQUEST OF GREAT BRITAIN BY WILLIAM. 

Still the Northmen had not wholly lost their adventurous 
spirit, and Neustria long served them as a great and power- 
ful station; from whence, in the eleventh century, the found- 
ers of the kingdom of Naples set forth on their hazardous 
expedition, and soon afterwards the conquerors of England. 

The sixth duke of Normandy, Robert the Liberal, after 
having conquered French Vexin and subdued his rebellious 
vassals, set out barefoot on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, 
leaving the duchy to his natural son William (1037). The 
minority of the new duke was protected by the clergy, who 
resolutely opposed the " Truce of God" to the constant broils 
and dissensions of those troubled times. William soon showed 
that the energy of his ancestors was not to slumber in his 
veins. At twenty he passed for the most redoubtable knight 
in France ; " and it was, say his contemporaries, a beautiful 
and a terrible thing to see him master his steed, brandishing 
his sword, dazzling your eyes with his buckler, and threaten- 
ing with his helmet and javelins." He already gave proof, 
too, of that cold-blooded cruelty of the northern pirate. Some 
men of the garrison of Alencon had reproached him with the 
obscurity and humiliation of his mother ; William took the 
city by assault, had the hands and feet of all its defenders 
cut off, and their bloody limbs thrown over the wall : a 
worthy prelude to the implacable vengeance of the tyrant 
of the Anglo-Saxons. 

160. William's invasion of England. — Battle of Hast- 
ings. — Edward the Confessor, king of England, died without 
children (1060), naming Harold son of Count Godwin as the 
worthiest to succeed him. But William had already made 
Harold swear that he would aid him in gaining the throne 
of England for himself, and now claimed it in virtue of the 
extorted oath and a pretended promise of Edward. Harold 
prepared himself for a vigorous defence, both against his 
rival and against his own brother Tosti, who had come 



CONQUEST OF GREAT BRITAIN BY WILLIAM. 177 

against him with the assistance of Harold king of Norway. 
In the first battle against some troops that had been assem- 
bled in haste, the king of the North defeated the English and 
crossed a marsh on the bodies of those who were drowned in 
their flight. Harold himself now advanced to meet him, and 
was near taking him by surpi'ise. Before the battle began, 
Harold offered his brother peace and his ancient honors. 
" But what for my ally ?" said Tosti. " Seven feet of Eng- 
lish ground, or, as he is taller than other men, perhaps a little 
more." This time the English were victorious, but a more 
redoubtable enemy had already landed with a banner conse- 
crated by the pope, and an army of bold adventurers, eager 
for conquest and spoil. William's foot slipped as he landed. 
" Bad sign," cried his companions. " 'Tis God who gives 
me possession of this soil, by making me seize it with both 
hands." He offered Harold to refer their dispute to the 
pope. The Saxon refused, and the two armies met at Hast- 
ings. The battle was long doubtful. Harold fighting gal- 
lantly at the head of his countrymen, and William leading 
his disciplined bands with the skill of an experienced cap- 
tain. At last an arrow pierced the brain of the Saxon king, 
and his army fled. The enemy pursued all night (1066). 

161. Sequel of the conquest. — Desperate contests. — Wil- 
liam hastened to London, where Edgar, king Edward's 
nephew, submitted without opposition. " In the year of the 
Lord, 1067, the duke of Normandy entered London in the 
midst of the enthusiasm of the clergy and the people, who 
saluted him as king. He was crowned by Elred, archbishop 
of York : then the nobles took the oath of allegiance, and 
after having received hostages, he found himself surely 
possessed of the throne and dreaded by all those who had 
made pretensions to the royal power." To secure the papal 
sanction, he sent rich presents to Rome in return for the con- 
secrated banner which had triumphed at Hastings. 

8* 



178 CONQUEST OF GREAT BRITAIN BY WILLIAM. 

At the same time, he levied enormous tributes upon the 
Saxon population ; and made such a distribution of the spoils 
among his companions, " that neatherds and varlets became 
rich and gentlemen." 

Still the conquest was not completed. The territory won 
at Hastings was scarcely a fourth of the kingdom. For 
seven years more William had to contend against the ener- 
getic resistance of the Saxon race, less to crush rebellions, 
than to subdue people that still maintained their independence. 
When he returned to Normandy to celebrate his triumph at 
Rouen by splendid festivals, the lieutenants whom he left 
treated the conquered people with insupportable tyranny. 
The irritation became universal. The Saxons of Devonshire, 
who had given refuge to the family of Harold, gave the 
signal for insurrection by repulsing the Norman officers, 
whom they called William's brigands, sword in hand ; and 
the king was compelled to return in haste, in order to sup- 
press a formidable revolt. 

The next year Edgar, escaping from the hands of his 
rival, raised the Scotch clans and called the Irish and Danes 
to his aid, while Harold's son defeated the Normans near 
Bristol. For two years, the conquest seemed doubtful. At 
the approach of the enemy, the Saxons would take refuge in 
the woods with their wives and children, preferring the lives 
of outlaws to the yoke of their conquerors. At Durham, 
nine hundred Normans were put to death, with the governor 
of the place. William swore that he would take a fearful 
vengeance, and kept his word. A thousand men were mas- 
sacred in Northumberland, which had resisted to the last : 
cattle, tools, hoi'ses, harvests — all were destroyed, and the 
land lay nine years without cultivation. A whole century 
was not enough to efface the traces of this work of devasta- 
tion. Some few fared better. Herward, whom the Norman 
poets call the indomitable outlaw, Jiad established himself 



CONQUEST OF GREAT BRITAIN BY WILLIAM. 179 

with a band of faithful adherents in the marshes of Lincoln 
and Norfolk. William respected his heroism, and restored 
him his inheritance. 

162. Organization of the Normans after tJie conquest. — 
England was at last subdued, and the conqueror could forge 
at leisure his iron yoke. He began by establishing the feu- 
dal system, for the advantage of his Norman knights. But 
to give still greater strength to the royal despotism, he re- 
quired the rear-vassals, contrary to all the usuages of feudal- 
ism, to do homage directly to the king himself. The English 
were excluded from all political rights, and deprived of the 
greater part of their property. The names of all those who 
had fallen in battle, who had survived the defeat, or who had 
been prevented by some involuntary cause from joining the 
army, were rigorously sought out and all their possessions 
seized. The children of the first were deprived of their in- 
heritance for ever ; the second were stripped of their estates, 
and felt, say the Norman writers, that their .conqueror, in 
leaving them life, had done enough for them ; and finally, 
those who had not taken up arms were stripped, because they 
had intended to do so. Of this universal spoliation the king 
kept for himself the treasures of the kings, the plate and 
jewels of the churches, and all the precious things that were 
found in the warehouses of the merchants. The Norman 
captains had vast domains, castles, villages, and whole cities. 
Smaller portions were distributed among the common soldiers. 
All these tracts were soon covered with citadels and for- 
tresses ; and all the natives were compelled to swear obe- 
dience and fidelity. Only a few rich Englishmen preserved 
their domains as vassals of some Norman lord. Some aban- 
doned their native land, and sought an asylum at Constanti- 
nople, where they met other Normans, and proved their valor 
against Robert Guiscard (see next §). They were to be 
under the name of Varangians, the last defenders of the By- 



180 CONQUEST OF GREAT BRITAIN BY WILLIAM. 

zantine empire, and preserve their native Saxon till the day 
of its fall. 

163. Oppression of the conquered. — Game laws, SfC. — In 
England the name of Englishman had become an insult. All 
the prelates that bore it, were displaced. The worship of 
English saints was forbidden, their tombs broken open and 
their ashes scattered. The English language and writers, 
were rejected as barbarous. French was taught in the schools 
and used in courts. The Danegeld, a tax of odious memory, 
was levied again ; and the curfew rang at eight, to warn all 
Saxons, rich or poor, to cover their fires and put out their 
lights. Hunting was forbidden them, perhaps as much to 
take from them even this pretext for wearing arms, as to 
gratify the conqueror's inordinate passion for field sports. 
*' William," says a Saxon chronicle, " condemned every one 
that killed a stag, or a hind, to lose his eyes ; and even made 
laws to protect the lives of hares. This savage king loved 
wild beasts as if he had been their father." Not contented 
with having reserved all the forests and woods, he had thirty- 
six villages destroyed to make room for the new forest, which 
he peopled with game of all kinds for himself and his knights. 
Finally, a tribunal was established to ascertain liow much 
wool might yet ie cut from the English sheep. 

After the pacification, or rather the subjection of Eng- 
land, William was recalled to Normandy by the frequent 
revolts of his son Robert. Philip I. of France hazarded an 
ironical speech, which was repeated to the irritable conque- 
ror, who resolved to take bloody vengeance. He had already 
burned Nantes and was advancing upon Paris, when death 
stopped him short in his victorious career (1089). 



CONQUEST OF SOUTHEEN ITALY. 181 



§ III. 

CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN ITALY BY THE NORMANS. NORMAN 

KINGS IN THE TWO SICILIES. 

164. State of Italy. — About half a century before the 
battle of Hastings, which gave England to the French-Nor- 
mans, some of them had already begun to take possession of 
Southern Italy. The whole country indeed seemed to hold 
out peculiar attractions for the adventures of every land; for 
the Greeks were contending in one section, the Germans had 
the supremacy in another, and Sicily — the fate of which has 
ever been so closely linked with that of the Peninsula — was 
in the hands of the Saracens. 

The territory comprised under the general denomination 
of Apulia, formed with Otranto and Calabria the new province 
or Theme of Lombardy. The emperors of Constantinople 
had regained a nominal sovereignty over these districts, 
which they governed by means of an officer called Catapan : 
they collected taxes, coined money, and regulated by charter 
the rights and privileges of the citizens. But still their 
power was too remote and too feeble to exei't any fixed or 
regular action over Apulia. On the other hand, the German 
emperors, as the successors of Charlemagne, raised preten- 
sions to the Greek possessions in Italy, and claimed the feudal 
homage of the Lombard chiefs. On the west of the Apen- 
nines, the great duchy of Beneventum had preserved its in- 
dependence, but had lost its unity by the dismemberment of 
the principalities of Capua and Salerno. The maritime cities 
of Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi, had formed themselves into re- 
publics. In this state of parcelling and anarchy, Southern 
Italy was an easy prey. 

165. First expedition of the Normans into Italy. — Con- 



182 CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN ITALY. 

quest of Apulia. — Forty Normans returning from a pilgrim- 
age to Jerusalem, landed at Salerno while the city was sore 
pressed by the attack of a band of Saracens. The Normans 
easily put the invaders to flight, and on their return home 
told such wonderful tales of the glory that was to be won in 
this new field of adventure, that three hundred of their coun- 
trymen set forth under the guidance of Raynulphus, to try 
their fortunes there. Raynulphus soon distinguished himself 
by his valor in the service of the duke of Naples, and was 
rewarded by the castle of Anversa (1026) and the title of 
count under the sovereignty of the emperor Conrad. This 
first establishment soon became the rallying point of crowds 
of adventurers. 

Tancred of Haute ville, a Norman lord, had twelve sons 
already renowned for their valor ; three of whom, Williavi, 
Drogon, and Humphrey, renouncing their share of the pa- 
ternal inheritance, went to try their chance in Italy (1037). 
At first they aided the prince of Salerno against Capua. 
Then they fought for the patrician Maniaces against the 
Saracens of Sicily, and the victory gained for William the 
surname of Iron Arm. Their ungrateful allies refusing to 
pay the stipulated reward, they declared war against the 
empire. The contest was waged with all their usual intre- 
pidity, and marked by exploits which seem more like the 
fables of knight-errantry than sober history. On one occa- 
sion, seven hundred Normans are said to have met sixty 
thousand Greeks, who, touched with compassion at the sight 
of this feeble band, were willing to let them pass unharmed. 
But the Normans fell upon them impetuously, and put them 
to flight. However much we may wish to deduct from these 
wonderful tales, it is certain that between 1040 and 1043 they 
made themselves masters of Apulia, and received the investi- 
ture of it from the emperor Henry III., leaving the Greeks 
only a few possessions on the coast. 



CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN ITALY. 183 

166. Robert Guiscard and Roger. — Conquest of Sicily 
and southern Italy. — After the death of William of the Iron 
Arm, and the assassination of his brother Drogon, who had 
succeeded him in 1046, Humphrey became count of Apulia. 
Soon the Normans began again their victorious excursions, 
with the aid of Robert Guiscard and Roger, youngest sons 
of the lord of Hauteville. Robert, setting out from Norman- 
dy with five horse and thirty foot, threw himself into the 
wild mountainous districts of southern Italy, and began his 
career by robberies and murder. His band increased rapid- 
ly, and his expeditions spread terror throughout the peninsula. 
The three great powers of the age, the pope, the emperors 
of the East and of Germany, leagued together against a 
band of Normans : Pope Leo IX. was defeated and taken 
prisoner near Civitella (1053). But satisfied with defeating 
his army, the cunning conqueror treated the pontiff with 
every mark of respect, and profited by his victory to obtain 
a grant of his conquests as a fief of the Holy See : and thus 
began a supremacy which was to be the source of infinite suf- 
fering to posterity, and extend its influence to our own days. 

After Humphrey's death (1057), Robert Guiscard caused 
his brother Roger to invade Calabria, and obtained from the 
pope the title of duke of Apulia, with the investiture of Sicily, 
when he should have taken it from the Saracens. It was a 
sad change for that fertile island, which in the hands of the 
Saracens bloomed like a garden. The Mahometans had re- 
sisted the Greeks successfully, but they were compelled to 
give way before the impetuous valor of the Normans. In an 
ambuscade they killed a nephew of Roger, and ate his heart, 
believing that it would give them something of his valor. 
But the Normans defeated their army of fifty thousand men 
at Ceramio, took Palermo after a siege of five months, and 
Roger was charged with the government of Sicily with the 
title of grand-count (1074). 



184 CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN ITALY. 

Meanwhile the taking of Bari, Otranto, Salerno, and 
Amalfi, had completed the ruin of the Greek power in Italy. 
Robert Guiscard then crossed the Adriatic, and defeated the 
imperial army near Durazzo. In this battle the Saxon emi- 
grants found themselves once more in face of the hated Nor- 
man. Robert followed up his victory, and had penetrated 
as far as Thessaly, in the hope of displaying his victorious 
banner before the walls of Constantinople, when he was re- 
called by the disputes between Gregory VII. and Henry IV. 
The pope called on him for aid, and Robert, without heeding 
the menaces of the emperor, and hoping to profit by Grego- 
ry's dependent situation, marched to his rescue, and gave 
him an asylum in his states. Soon after he died (1085), just 
as he had received tidings of a new victory over the Greeks. 

167. Foundation of the kingdom of the tioo Sicilies. — Ro- 
ger 11. — While Roger's eldest son Boemond, preferring the 
glory of the first crusade to his paternal inheritance, went in 
search of distant conquests (v. ch. xii.), Roger Bursa held 
the sceptre with a feeble hand, and transmitted it to his son 
William. William died without children (1127), and his 
cousin, Roger II. of Sicily, had himself proclaimed at Paler- 
mo by the archbishop and the inhabitants, and three years 
after received the investiture from the antepope Anaclete. 
Pope Innocent II., forgetting the fate of Leo IX., ventured 
to ineet Roger in the field, and like his predecessor was de- 
feated, and compelled to comply with the demands of the vic- 
torious Norman, Robert Guiscard had compelled his pris- 
oner to grant him the investiture of his conquests. Roger 
demanded and received the title of Ici7ig of the two Sicilies. 
Thus the possessions of the two Norman branches were unit- 
ed under one sceptre, and the popes, extending their sway 
even in the midst of defeat, obtained the suzerainety of this 
fertile kingdom. 

The ppwer of the Normans in Italy had now reached its 



COKQUEST OF SOUTHERN ITALY. 185 

highest point. Roger II., king of Naples and Sicily, duke 
of Apulia, and prince of Capua, declared war against the 
Gx-eeks, and passed his whole life in fighting them, without 
ever meeting an adversary that could resist him. He made 
himself master of Corfu, Etolia, and Boetia, burnt the suburbs 
of Constantinople, and left as the fruit of his conquests the 
culture of the silk- worm, which some of his prisoners brought 
with them to Sicily. 

J 68. Successors of Roger II. — Reunion of the two Sici- 
lies to the empire. — The successor of this great prince, Wil- 
liam I. the Bad (1154-1166), attacked at the same time by 
the emperor of the East and Frederic Barbarossa, almost 
stripped of his states of Naples, and repulsed by the pope, 
who refused to recognize him for king, restored his fortunes 
by a great victory, and obtained the investiture. His son 
William II. the Good (1166-1169) united with Alexander 
III., who understood the cause of Italian independence better 
than his predecessors, and was an active ally of that famous 
league of Lombardy, which checked the course of the re- 
doubtable emperor (v. ch. xi., § iv.): but Frederic, seeking 
by policy what he was unable to gain by force, obtained the 
hand of Constance, Roger's posthumous daughter, for his son 
Henry, who becoming emperor, claimed in his wife's name 
(1189) the inheritance of William II. It was in vain that 
the Sicilians, in hatred of the German dominion, proclaimed 
Tancred, a cousin of the late king ; and that Pope Clement 
III. gave the investiture to the defender of the national 
cause (1190); for after the death of Tancred, who had 
fought against Henry in Italy, and Richard Coeur de Lion 
in Sicily, the resistance of the young king William III. was 
crushed by a war of extermination, and the dominion of the 
Normans, which had withstood both empires for a century 
and a half, fell as a first fruit of the intei'marriage of princes 
(1194). 



CHAPTER XL 

HISTOEY OF GEEMAJSTY AND ITALY TO THE DEATH 
OE FEEDEEICK H. 



SUMMAEY. 

§ I. Dismemberment of the empire of Charlemagne. — Arnolph of 
Carinthia, king of Germany, then emperor. — Zwentibold, king of Lor- 
raine. — Wars in Italy against the Moravians. — Lewis the Child. — Final 
establishment of the Hungarians in Pannonia. — Extinction of the family 
of Charlemagne in Germany. — Election of Conrad of Franconia. — War 
with the duke of Bavaria. — Henry of Saxony, the Fowler. — Wise and 
strong government. — War against the Hungarians. — Otho I., the Great. 
— Contests with the vassals. — Bohemia subjected to tribute. — Expedition 
into Italy (v. next paragraph). — Progress of feudality under Otho II. and 
HI., and Henry II. — Relations of the empire with the Bohemians and 
Hungarians. 

Accession of Conrad the Salic. — Henry II. contends with the Bohe- 
mians, the Hungarians. — His ascendency in Italy. — Minority of Henry 
IV. — Power of feudality, disorders in the empire. 

§ H. State of Italy. — Rivalry of Guido of Spoleto and Berengarius 
of Friuli. — Intervention of the emperor Arnolphus. — Guido and his son 
Lambert, emperors. — Lewis of Burgundy, king of Italy and emperor. — 
Final triumph of Berengarius. — Lothario. — Berengarius H. of Ivrea. — 
Adelaide, Lothario's widow, calls Otho II., who marries her. — Revolt 
and submission of Ludolph, son of Otho. — Otho's second expedition : he 
is crowned emperor. — Troubles in the church. — Quarrels with the em- 
pire of the East. — Contest between Conrad and his Italian vassals. — 
Ascendency of the empire over Italy and the Holy See, under Henry HI. 



GERMANY TO THE "WAR OF INVESTITURES. 187 

§ III. Causes of the influence of the church and the Holy See in the 
middle ages. — Relations between the church and the empire. — Confu- 
sion of temporal and spiritual. — Pretensions of the emperors. — Of the 
right of investiture. — State of manners. — Necessity of a reformation. — ■ 
Political position of the popes in Christendom. — Avowed ascendency 
of the Holy See. — Accession of Gregory VII. — His double aim. — He 
resists simony and the corruption of manners, and defends the inde- 
pendence of the church. — Contest with the emperor Henry IV. — The 
countess Matilda. — Insurrection of vassals. — Henry at Canossa. — De- 
posed. — He triumphs over his rivals, and in Italy. — Death of Gregory 
VII. — The contest continues under Urban II. — First crusade. — Reverses 
and death of Henry IV. — Henry V. forces the pope to yield the investi- 
ture. — Councils opposed to the decrees of the emperor. Henry V. 

triumphs in Italy. — Troubles in Germany. — Concordate of Woryns. 

§ IV. Progress of feudal povi'er in Germany. — Beginning of the 
quarrels between Guelphs and Ghibellines. — Lothario II. — Conrad of 
Franconia gets the better of Henry of Saxony. — Accession of Frederick 
Barbarossa. — Religious and political troubles in Italy. — Arnold of Brescia. 
— Frederick Barbarossa interferes in Italy. — The quarrel of the Guelphs 
and Ghibellines becomes the quarrel of the Holy See and the empire. — 
Alexander III. — League of Lombardy. — Power of the emperor in Italy 
after the annexation of the kingdom of the two Sicilies — Pontificate of 
Innocent III. — Influence of the papacy over all Europe. — Frederick II. 
— Contest with the pope and Lombard cities. — Eccelhno chief of the 
Ghibellines. — Frederick at the crusade. — Civil wars in Germany and 
Italy. — Frederick II. deposed. — New vs^ars. — Portrait of this prince. 



§1. 



GERMANY FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE TO THE 
WAR OF INVESTITURES. 

169. Dismemberment of the Carolingian empire after 
Charles the Fat. — Amid the convulsions which followed the 
dethronement of Charles the Fat (v. ch. ix.), Germany, 
which had just placed the heir of her kings upon the throne 



188 GERMANY TO THE WAR OF INVESTITURES. 

of France, still pi'eserved the preponderance. The natural 
son of Carloman, Arnolph of Carinthia, having been chosen 
king of Gennany, received the homage of Eudes, king of 
France, and Robert Guelph, or Welf, king of Burgundy beyond 
the Jura. . Lewis, Boson's son and successor, put Cisjuran 
Burgundy under Arnolph's protection : Berengarius, duke of 
Friuli, a pretender to the crown of Italy, invokedArnolph's 
assistance against his competitor Guido of Spoleto ; and final- 
ly this prince gave the kingdom of Lorraine to his natural 
son Zwentimbold (895), who had been named after his god- 
father, a formidable chief of the Moravians. Nothing seemed 
to be wanting to him but the imperial crown, which Guido 
had received in 891 from the pope Stephen V., and trans- 
mitted to his son Lambert. Arnolph causing himself to be 
crowned at Rome (896) in spite of Lambert's efforts, pre- 
tended to give laws to Italy, and stripped even his own pro- 
tegee Berengarius. But he was recalled to Germany by the 
repeated incursions of the duke of the Moravians, whose 
alliance he thought he had bought by the cession of Bohe- 
mia. While he was engaged with this formidable adversary, 
Lambert and Berengarius, equally jealous of his power and 
fearful of his ambition, became reconciled and divided Italy 
between them. 

Arnolph died (899) just as he had received the tidings 
of a new defeat of the Moravians, and at his death the desti- 
ny of Germany became as uncertain as before. Berenga- 
rius took the imperial crown. Zwentimbold was assassinated 
in Lorraine, and Lewis, Arnolph's legitimate son but seven 
years old, was acknowledged king of Germany. Only two 
events mark his reign, the appearance of the Normans in 
Lorraine, and the final establishment of the Hungarians in 
Fannonia. These Barbarians from the shores of Lake Mseo- 
tis and the Caspian Sea, allied themselves with the Bohemians, 
and invaded the country of the Moravians, whose chief had 



GEKBIANY TO THE WAE. OF INVESTITURES. 189 

submitted to the king of Germany. They crushed a German 
army near Augsburgh, defeated the duke of Thuringia, pen- 
etrated into Bavaria, and held Europe in terror during a 
whole century by their ravages and incursions. 

170. Extinction of tJie Carolingians in Germany. — Con- 
rad of Franconia. — Henry of Saxony. — Lewis the Child, 
Charlemagne's last descendant in Germany, died in 911. The 
crown became elective, and passed to the most powerful fam- 
ilies. Four great vassals could aspire to it : the dukes of 
Franconia, Suabia, Bavaria, and Saxony. Conrad of Fran- 
conia was elected (911). But the feudal chiefs pretended to 
throw off at will a power which they themselves had created. 
Arnolph the Bad, duke of Bavaria, took the title of king, and 
I'efused to submit to the imperial supremacy. Conrad over- 
came him in a great battle. But the duke of Bavaria calling 
in the Hungarians to his assistance, Conrad was killed, and 
his death left unavenged. He had indicated Henry of Sax- 
ony as his successor, whose talents and firmness he honored, 
although his enemy. Conrad's brother, to prevent the inde- 
cision of the vassals and decide Henry's election, carried him 
the imperial insignia himself. Henry was hunting when the 
message reached him, and from this incident received the 
surname of the Fowler (918). 

Henry the Fowler, proclaimed by the Thuringians and 
the Saxons, and soon recognized by the Suabians and Bava- 
rians, opened the dominion of that illustrious house of Sax- 
ony to which Germany owes its organization and the perma- 
nent possession of the imperial sceptre. Henry repressed 
the ambition of the great vassals by forming a regular army, 
and building in the provinces fortified castles, to which he 
drew, by the grant of important privileges, the ninth part 
of the inhabitants of the country. He established marches 
or margraviats, to defend the northern frontiers against the 
attacks of the Sclavonians and Sorabians. He conquered 



190 GERMANY TO THE WAR OE INVESTITURES. 

the Danes of Jutland, and won the glory of opening the way 
for Christianity among those savage people. Winceslaus, 
duke of Bohemia, was compelled to recognize his supremacy 
(930) ; and the Hungarians who had continued their ravages 
in eastern Germany were defeated in a great battle, the me- 
mory of which is still preserved in their popular traditions. 
It was in this period also, that the first municipal cities of 
Germany are supposed to have been established. 

171. Otho I. the Great and Ms successors. — Otho I., son 
of Henry the Fowler, was even more renowned than he (936). 
Menaced at his accession by a crowd of revolted vassals, he 
made this obstacle serve to confirm his power, by overthrow- 
ing the rebellious dukes of Suabia, Franconia, Bavaria, and 
Lorraine, and giving their domains to members of his own 
family. The usurpation of Boleslaus in Bohemia, after the 
murder of his brother, furnished Otho with an occasion of 
invading this duchy and subjecting it to tribute, under pre- 
text of punishing the assassin and avenging the persecuted 
Christians (950). The number of Sclavonians (slaves) that 
he took in this war was so great, that their name, which in 
their own language means illustrious, became thenceforth 
the distinctive appellation of captives or serfs. He made two 
expeditions into Italy, which won for him the surname of the 
Great and the imperial crown. The close of his reign be- 
longs to the history of Italy, but from that time, the impe- 
rial dignity became attached to the sovereignty of Germany 
(v. next §). 

The powerful authority of this prince, his skilful admin- 
istration, and his success in arms, had repressed the efforts 
of feudalism and checked its progress : but under his suc- 
cessors it promptly repaired its losses. Under Otho II. (973 
-983), Otho III. (933-1002), and Henry II. of Bavaria 
(1002-1024), the vassals succeeded in establishing the he- 
reditary transmission of fiefs, and soon also that of the prin- 



GERMANY TO THE WAR OF INVESTITURES. 191 

cipal dignities of the crown. Thus the territorial aristocracy 
was strengthened by the accession of another aristocracy no 
less dangerous than itself. The imperial throne was elective ; 
the fiefs and dignities became hereditary ; and it was easy to 
see, that in a contest between the nobles and the emperor, the 
emperor would be the loser. While this was going on in 
Germany, each new reign began with a war in Italy, still 
renewed, and still without result. The relations of the Sax- 
on emperors with the Sclavonians and Hungarians were more 
peaceable. Boleslaus I., the second Christian duke of Po- 
land (992-1025), received the royal crown from Otho III. 
Henry II. confirmed to Vaic, sovereign of Hungary, who, 
under the name of Stephen, became the apostle of his coun- 
try, the title of king, which he had already received from 
Pope Sylvester II. (1000). 

172. Extinction of the family of Saxony. — Conrad the 
Salic. — Henry III. — Henry IV. — On the extinction of the 
imperial family of Saxony, Conrad the Salic (1024) was 
raised to the imperial throne ; and this election of a simple 
lord, merely because he inspired less apprehension to his am- 
bitious vassals, shows what progress the feudal power had 
made during the preceding reigns. His reign was passed in 
counteracting the leagues formed against him, and enforcing 
the homage of several princes, all ready to shake off" even 
this slight subjection. With his vassals of Italy he began a 
contest, which continued under his son Henry III. (1039- 
1056). This prince, successively conqueror of the Bohemi- 
ans (1042), and of the Hungarians (1043), whom he sub- 
jected to the empire, won over the turbulent nobles of Bur- 
gundy by his marriage with the virtuous Agnes, a princess 
of Aquitania. In Italy he exercised a powerful ascendency, 
disposed several times of the pontifical throne, and had the 
skill to conciliate the Normans in the south of the peninsula, 
by granting them the investiture of what he could no longer 



192 ITALY TO THE WAR OF INVESTITURES. 

take from them. The empire was at the height of its gran- 
deur, comprising the whole of Germany between the Rhine, 
the Oder, and the Alps ; Italy to the confines of Apulia and 
Calabria ; Gaul from the Rhine to the Scheldt, the Meuse, the 
Soane, and the Rhone. But there was no unity in this vast 
dominion, and the insubordination of the great vassals was a 
permanent cause of division and decay. 

The young Henry IV., son of Henry III. (1056-1106), 
had been crowned with the consent of the princes and people, 
eleven years before the death of his father ; but the imperial 
dignity was none the better respected during his minority. 
Agnes tried to make herself partisans by the gift of the great 
fiefs of Carinthia, Suabia, and Bavaria, but it was only giv- 
ing new allies to the great vassals ; and the usurpation by 
their creatures of all the dignities of the church and the em- 
pire, was the origin of those scandals and disorders which 
were soon to cause a violent ruptui'e between the empire and 
the Holy See. 



§11. 



ITALY FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE TO THE WAR OP 
INVESTITURES. 

173. State of Italy. — The kingdom of Italy, founded upon 
the ruins of the dominion of the Lombards, had never em- 
braced the whole of the peninsula. Towards the end of the 
ninth century, the independent states of the pope comprised 
the environs of Rome and exarchate of Ravenna, with the 
ancient Pentapolis. In the south, the Greeks still defended 
their lessening territories against the Aglabite Saracens, who 
had made themselves masters of Sicily and several cities of 
the main land. The duchies of Beneventum and Salerno, 



ITALY TO THE WAR OF INVESTITURES. 193 

last remains of the Lombard kingdom, had sustained them- 
selves between the Greeks and the Latins. Several cities, 
powerful by their commerce and their mai-ine, Naples, 
Gaeta, and Amalfi, repelled even the nominal supremacy of 
the emperor of Constantinople. In the north, maritime com- 
merce had begun to enrich Venice, which had grown up on 
the lagoons of the Rialto, and Pisa and Genoa, which pro- 
claimed their independence at the dismemberment of the 
empire (888). The kingdom of Italy, which alone had pre- 
served some degree of strength and unity in the midst of this 
parcelling, was about to be rent by endless divisions. 

174. Rivalry between the dukes of Spoleto and Friuli. — 
In escaping from the powerless hands of Charles the Fat, 
after the diet of Tribur, this kingdom was divided between 
two powerful lords, Guido of Spoleto, and Berengarius duke 
of Friuli. Berengarius, though recognized at first in the 
north of the peninsula, confirmed in his possession by the 
emperor Arnolph of Carinthia and victorious over the duke 
of Spoleto at Brescia (889), was still obliged to yield to the 
persevering energy of his rival, who made himself master, 
first of the crown of Italy, and then of that of the empire 
(891). His son Lambert, who was also invested with the 
imperial dignity (894), forced Berengarius to yield him Italy 
as far as the Adda. But Guide's death restored the sceptre 
to his adversary, and Berengarius seemed now to have ob- 
tained quiet possession of the long contested prize, when the 
Hungarians broke down from the Alps with their fierce 
bands. The Italians rallied promptly around the banner of 
their chief, and the invaders, perplexed and harassed in a 
country so little suited to their style of warfare, offered to 
purchase retreat by restoring their plunder and giving hos- 
tages for their good faith. Instead of catching at the offer, 
the imprudent Berengarius attempted to crush them in the 
field, and was defeated with immense loss. The invaders 



194 ITALY TO THE WAR OF INVESTITURES. 

spread in triumph over the country ; and, as if to punish the 
unfortunate king for his imprudence, Adelbert of Tuscany, 
with several other nobles, invited Lewis of Burgundy, son 
of Boson, to accept the crown of Italy (900) and of the em- 
pire (901). But a new turn of fortune restored the sceptre 
to Berengarius ; and Lewis, who had disgusted the Italians 
by his arrogance, had to swear that he would never come 
back again before he was allowed to return to his native 
kingdom. Oaths have seldom much weight in the balance 
with a crown, and the king of Burgundy recrossed the Alps 
at the head of a powerful army, and compelled the Pavians to 
open their gates. Berengarius, who was sick, fled to Verona, 
and the report was soon spread that he was dead. Verona 
was filled with his adherents, but Lewis, trusting to the story 
of his rival's death, ventui'ed himself there, and lived as 
though all danger had died with him. But a fearful atonement 
was prepared for his perjury. Berengarius, at the head of a 
chosen band, fell upon him in the night, made him prisoner, 
and calling him to account for the violation of his oath, in- 
flicted upon him the terrible punishment of blinding, so com- 
mon in that age (905). The mutilated king returned home, 
and Berengarius remained in undisputed possession of the 
throne. But still the imperial sceptre was floating in attrac- 
tive vision before his eyes. The Hungarians, it is true, broke 
in from time to time upon his kingdom, and compelled him 
to buy them off" on degrading terms. It was less the pros- 
perity of his kingdom that he desired, than the enlargement 
of his titles. At length, a great victory over the Saracens 
secured him the long-coveted prize ; and the pope, who had 
been his ally in the contest, rewarded his triumph with the 
imperial crown. Still Berengarius, with all his faults, was 
not a bad man ; and his death, by the hand of an assassin, 
was owing to a trait of noble genez'osity of which kings have 
seldom given examples. 



ITALY TO THE WAR OF INVESTITURES. 195 

175. Conquest of Italy by Oiho the Great. — After Beren- 
garius (924), the peninsula again became a prey to rival 
pretenders. The kings of the two Burgundies, Rudolph and 
Hughes, followed one another upon the throne of Italy in a 
very brief space. Hughes, expelled by the powerful Beren- 
garius, marquis of Ivrea, had been succeeded by his son 
Lothario (946), in whose name Berengarius exercised a roy- 
al authority. But tired of a secondary i-ole, he poisoned the 
young king and was proclaimed in his stead. Lothario had 
left a wife renowned for her beauty, Adelaide, daughter of 
Rudolph II. of Burgundy, whose hand Berengarius wished 
to obtain for his son Adelbert. But the princess resolutely 
refused, and escaping from the fortress in which she had 
been shut up, with a single attendant, called Otho I. to her 
aid. In his first expedition beyond the Alps, Otho took Pavia 
and several other cities, had himself declared king of Italy, 
and married Adelaide. But in the midst of his success he 
was recalled to Germany by the revolt of his son Ludolph. 
Berengarius, who had yielded to the storm, had recourse to 
negotiation, and obtained a grant of the crown as a gift of 
his conqueror. But the habit of tyranny was too strong, and 
his oppressions and bad faith led Otho to send his son against 
him, and his son dying, to come again himself at the head 
of a powerful army. This time his triumph was complete, 
and after taking possession of Lombardy, and causing his 
authority to be recognized throughout the kingdom, he went 
to Rome and received the imperial crown from the hands of 
Pope John XII. (2d Feb. 962). 

The condition of Rome itself demanded the emperor's 
attention. Marozia, widow of a Roman lord named Alberic, 
had seized the supreme power in the city, making and un- 
making popes at will. She raised to the throne her son John 
XL, and to confirm her authority, married Hughes, king of 
Italy, who was allured by the prospect of so rich a prize as 



196 ITALY TO THE WAR OF INVESTITURES. 

the sovereignty of Rome. But Alberic, another son of Ma- 
rozia, exasperated against his father-in-law, raised the people, 
drove him from Rome, and confining his mother, made him- 
self sovereign under the title of Patrician of the Romans. 
This dignity he transmitted to his son Octavian, who at nine- 
teen had himself chosen pope under the name of John XII. 

John had invoked Otho's assistance against Berengarius, 
and received him at Rome with every demonstration of res- 
pect. But this harmony did not last long. The emperor 
left Rome to lay siege to the fortress of St. Leo in Um- 
bria, where Berengarius had shut himself up with his wife, 
and during the siege he received frequent complaints of the 
scandalous conduct of the pope. The remonstrances which 
he addressed the haughty young man excited his indignation 
instead of repentance, and to guard against the effects of his 
resentment, Otho was obliged to hasten to Rome at the head 
of a strong detachment. The pope fled, and Otho, on reach- 
ing the city, made the people and clergy swear that they 
would no longer choose a pope without his consent and that 
of his successors. Then he called a council, had the pope 
deposed, and Leo VIII. elected in his stead. John made 
great efforts to regain his throne, but his opponent was sup- 
ported by the strong arm of the emperor, and could not be 
overthrown. 

Soon after, Berengarius was compelled to surrendei', his 
son Adelbert took refuge at Constantinople, and all that por- 
tion of Italy which had belonged to the Lombards passed 
under the dominion of the Germans, nothing being left the 
Greeks but a few cities of lower Italy, with the greater part 
of Apulia and Calabria. Otho transmitted this kingdom with 
the imperial dignity to his son, and the Germans adopted the 
principle that the king of Germany became by his election 
king of Italy and emperor. Still the usage of the triple coro- 
nation of Germany, Italy, and the empire, continued for cen- 



ITALY TO THE WAR OF INVESTITURE. 197 

turies, and no king of Germany till Maximilian I. took the 
title of emperor without having first been crowned by the pope. 

Otho was ambitious to establish some claim to those pro- 
vinces of southern Italy which had not yet been subjected to 
the empire, and demanded the hand of the princess Theo- 
phania for his eldest son. The treachery of Nicephoras led 
to a war, which ended in the dethronement of the emperor of 
the East ; and his successor, John Zimisces, bought peace by 
consenting to the marriage. Next year, Otho the Great died 
at the summit of human glory and power (973). 

176. Troubles in the states of the church. — Ascendency of 
the empire over the Holy See. — The reign of Otho II. con- 
tains some romantic incidents, which left no decided trace 
in Italian history. Under Otho III., Rome Vi'as governed for 
a time by a consul, the celebrated Crescentius, who, after ex- 
pelling two popes, was at last besieged in the castle of St. 
Angelo by the imperial troops, and hanged like a common 
malefactor before the gates of the fortress. Sylvester II., 
illustrious also under the name of Gerietus for his learning 
and his virtues, restored the dignity if not -the power of the 
tiara : and the political rivalries which had so long desolated 
the peninsula, ended with the accession of Conrad the Salic, 
who was twice crowned king ; once at Milan, and once at 
Monza. The resistance of Pavia was punished by laying 
waste its territories, and destroying its castles. The great 
vassals, who exercised an insufferable tyranny over their 
own vassals, saw the imperial authority sustain the rights 
of the vavassors, and Conrad set the example of a policy to 
which the kings of France were subsequently indebted for 
their victory over feudalism. The imperial power triumphed 
in Italy. Henry III. interfered in the disputes of Benedict 
IX., Sylvester III., and Gregory VI., who contended for the 
chair of St. Peter ; and causing them to be deposed, had the 
bishop of Bamberg appointed in their stead, who took the 



198 CONTEST BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND EMPIRE. 

name of Clement III. (1046). The Romans renounced 
the right of free election of the pope, which had been at- 
tacked by the emperors more than once ; and proclaiming 
Henry and his successors patricians, gave them, in sign of 
their supremacy, a green robe, a golden ring for the finger, 
and a circlet of gold for the head. 

But the contest between the church and the empire was 
soon to begin, and lead to a still higher development of the 
papal power. 



§ III. 

CONTEST BETWEEN. THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE. GREGO- 
RY VII. 

177. Causes of the injiuence of the church and the Holy 
See. — During this slow and painful elaboration of modern 
society, which fills up so large a portion of the middle ages, 
Europe was a prey to convulsions and divisions. Feudalism 
contributed more than any other institution, to establish in 
fact the absolute independence of the nobility. But from the 
fall of the Roman empire, the only centre of action was the 
church, which by its influence, independent of times and of 
places, could act upon every people, communicating a regu- 
lar movement in the midst of their constant agitations, and 
rallying around her every eminent mind, by the science, of 
which she alone was the depository. The church had more 
than once saved towns and countries during the disasters of 
the invasion : had organized almost all the Barbarian tribes, 
by converting them to Christianity ; and amid the discords 
of the tenth and eleventh centuries, had alone possessed suffi- 
cient power to check the bloody dissensions of people and of 
individuals, by compelling them to make peace, or at least to 



CONTEST BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND EMPIRE. 199 

accept the Truce of God. She alone could suspend for a 
time the mailgnant quarrels of vassals, and the desperate con- 
tests of princes. 

It is not surprising that such benefits should have been 
repaid by a general homage. The Western empire, the 
only great temporal power, had felt the importance of ally- 
ing itself with the great spiritual power which governed 
the Christian world. It was for this that Charlemagne had 
confirmed the donation of the domain of St. Peter ; and the 
emperors went to Rome to receive their crown from the 
hands of the pope. But they obtained in exchange a kind 
of supremacy over the Holy See, which had been compelled 
more than once to invoke the mediation of the emperors in 
order to oppose the intrigues and confusion which had at- 
tended the election of several popes. At the end of the ninth 
century, it was still a simple protection : " The imperial 
commissaries," says a decree of John IX., " will, according 
to canonic rite and received usage, be present at the consecra- 
tion of the pope, to repel violence and prevent scandal." But 
from that time the emperors profited by every pretext, to take 
an active part in the election of the sovereign pontiff; andOtho 
the Great obtained from the anti-pope, Leo VIII., the right 
of naming the pope and conferring ecclesiastical dignities in 
his own states. This decree, though annulled by Henry II. 
(1014), was revived by his successors, and became the 
foundation of all the imperial pretensions. 

178. Encroachments of the temporal upon the spiritual. — 
Of the right of investiture. — But this subjection of the choice 
of the pope to the good pleasure of the emperor, seemed to 
menace that independence which is so essential to the head 
of the church ; and particularly when the divisions of the 
empire gave the sceptre to the great vassals. It was impos- 
sible to abandon the pontifical power to every usurper that 
held sway beyond the Alps ; and the abuse of the temporal 



200 CONTEST BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND EMPIRE. 

power in ecclesiastical affairs was promptly displayed in the 
scandalous manner in which the princes distributed eccle- 
siastical dignities. Instead of confining themselves to its 
temporal concerns, they assumed the I'ight of appointing the 
higher functionaries of the clergy as if they had been bishops, 
and trafficked in holy things, to augment their revenues and 
gain over partisans. Bishoprics and abbacies were put up 
at auction, and given to the highest bidder. A child of ten 
years old, Benedict IX., was raised by Conrad II. to the pon- 
tifical throne for money. Prelates, who had bought their 
places, indemnified themselves by dilapidating the pi'operty 
of the church, and extorting from the poor, the sum which 
they had paid for their dignity. Subject, too, by the feudal 
tenure of the fiefs attached to their offices, to the feudal 
hierarchy, they bore arms like mere temporal loi'ds ; raised 
their banner at the prince's call, and fought at the head of 
their vassals, instead of watching over their dioceses. 

179. State of manners. — Necessity of a reformation. — 
Contemporary writers give a horrible picture of the manners 
of this period. " They give the episcopal dignity," says St. 
Anselmo, " to serfs and debauchees, because they know that 
such men will not dare to reprove the vices of the great to 
whom they owe their elevation. These false shepherds 
think only of growing fat at the expense of their flock, with- 
out troubling themselves about their souls. Others giving 
themselves up to the vanities of the world, busy themselves 
with dogs and birds, for hunting ; and in spite of the canons, 
abandon their churches to follow the emperor," These de- 
plorable examples spread vice through all classes. " The 
world," says St. Peter Domiano, " is no longer any thing 
but a gulf of envy and lewdness. An evil spirit excites 

every where hatred, impiety — hypocrisy Who is 

ashamed of a disorderly life, of a sacrilegious theft ? Who 



CONTEST BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND EMPIRE. 201 

fears to commit crimes that call down the vengeance of hea- 
ven ? Corruption overflows on every side." 

Such was the frightful state of society, that wickedness 
seemed to have reached its utmost bounds, and men looked 
for the end of the world. The popes themselves had shared 
in the corruption, and the Holy See had been defiled by the 
grossest pollutions. But still the first thought of a sincere 
pontiff" would be, that his office made it his duty to oppose, 
by every means in his power, the progress of the contagion, 
and defend the best interests of humanity intrusted to his 
protection. Some, too, may have united with the hope of 
liberating the church from the supremacy of the emperors, 
that of founding a temporal supremacy of their own. Hu- 
man motives are seldom unmixed ; and the stream that springs 
limpid from the rock, will sometimes grow turbid as it runs. 
However this may be, they announced the intention of re- 
storing freedom to the Holy See ; of putting an end to an in- 
fluence which reduced the church to the rank of vassal, 
and seemed to have abolished every law of discipline and 
morality. 

180. Political situation of the popes in the midst of Chris- 
tendom. — At the moment in which the struggle began, the 
papacy was already possessed of immense power, founded 
upon opinion and common consent. The popes had become 
mediators and arbiters between people and kings. " It 
was," says Ancillon, " a supreme tribunal erected in the 
midst of universal anarchy ; and whose decrees were often 
as deserving of respect as they were respected." The 
nations and sovereigns themselves had founded this ascen- 
dency, which Gregory VII. invoked with so much energy. 
After the death of Lewis the Child, the states of Germany 
sent deputies to the pope to excuse themselves for having dis- 
posed of the cfown without his order and permission. The 

9* 



202 CONTEST BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND EMPIRE. 

victorious Normans demanded of the pope, a prisoner in their 
camp, the investiture of Apulia and Calabria as a fief of the 
church. Stephen, king of Hungaiy, had transferred to St. 
Peter all the rights and power of his crown. According to 
Saxon law, it was not till the emperor elect had been crowned 
by the pope that he obtained the imperial power and title ; 
and the same legislation gave to the pope, in express terms, 
the right of excommunicating the emperor. " The temporal 
sword," said the law of Suabia, " is intrusted to the emperor 
by the pope ;" and thus the emperor at his coronation was to 
swear obedience and fidelity to the pope. It is from this 
point of view that we must judge this epoch, and the conduct 
of Gregory VII. 

Such power, in such an age, could not be a vain deposit 
in the hands of a man whose energetic will and unshaken 
firmness were united with strong convictions, purity of life, 
and far-reaching foresight. 

181. First reforms and accession of Hildehrand (^Gregory 
VII.) to the pontifical throne. — The history of Gregory's re- 
forms, begins long before that of his pontificate. Hildehrand, 
son of a Tuscan carpenter, was a simple monk of Cluny, 
when the reputation of his wisdom and austere virtue called 
him to the councils of the sovereign pontiffs. He had al- 
ready sounded the depths of the evil, discovered its cause ; 
and formed the double aim, to which his whole life was inva- 
riably directed, the independence of the church and regenera- 
tion of manners. Every thing was to give way before the 
inspirations of his ardent genius. 

Under Leo IX. and Victor II. (1048-1057), several 
bishops, who had been appointed bj^ the emperor and convict- 
ed of simony, were deposed by his advice. The celibacy of 
the clergy — a masterpiece of policy, as separating the church 
from the world ; but a lamentable error, as cutting them off 
from natural sympathies, and exposing them to unneces- 



CONTEST BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND EMPIRE. 203 

sary temptations — was proclaimed, too, at his instigation, by 
Stephen IX. (1055), in a bull which claimed to be founded 
upon the ancient canons. And finally he caused Nicholas 
II. (1058-1061) to issue a decree resei'ving to the cardinals 
the free election of the pope, with only the simple reserve of 
the emperor's confirmation. The work of his pontificate was 
prepared. 

When he was spoken of for pope, he endeavored to per- 
suade the emperor Henry IV. not to confirm his election, 
warning him that the imperial dignity would not guard him 
from the stern reproofs which his irregular life deserved. 
Henry, who had already rendered himself odious in Germany 
by his cruelty and debaucheries, and who allowed abbacies 
to be sold at auction even upon the footsteps of the throne, 
approved the election in spite of the warning and the fears 
of the German bishops, who trembled for their own safety, 
and Hildebrand assumed the tiara under the name of Gregory 

182. Contest between Gregory VII. and Henry IV. — Ex- 
communication of the emperor. — He instantly renewed all the 
decrees of his predecessors. The council of Rome of 1074, 
proscribed simony, the traffic of holy things, and forbade, 
under severe penalties, the marriage of priests. The de- 
crees of the council were carried to the two kings who had 
particularly favored the abuse, Philip I. of France and Henry 
of Germany. Both professed submission. Next year (1075), 
a second council decided that the investiture of ecclesiastical 
property should no longer belong to laymen. 

Henry, who was then at war with Saxony and Thurin- 
gia, had just gained a great victory ; and in the pride of his 
triumph, he rejected the pontifical decision. To the council of 
Rome he opposed the conventicle of Worms, and sent Gregory 
a sentence of deposition. The German barons assembled at 
the diet of Treves, appealed to the pope as arbiter, who ex- 



204 CONTEST BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND EMPIRE. 

communicated the emperor, and released his subjects from 
their oath of allegiance. 

The effect of the excommunication was greater even than 
the pope could have expected ; for Henry's life had been so 
scandalously corrupt, and the influence of the Holy See was 
so great, that almost all Germany rose up against him. The 
remedy was indeed an extreme one, in the midst of the fright- 
ful confusion of society and the uncertain state of the politi- 
cal institutions of the period ; but perhaps, too, it was neces- 
sary, and certainly it was authorized by the public law of 
Germany, which declared that every one under the sentence 
of excommunication, who did not obtain a reversal of the sen- 
tence before the end of the year, had forfeited his fief and his 
patrimony. " Freemen," says an old German author, " had 
chosen Henry king, on condition that he would judge and 
govern the electors according to the rights of the crown. As 
he had constantly violated this compact to which he had sworn 
at his election, they could refuse to recognize him for king 
even without the decision of the Apostolic See." Henry's po- 
sition was as critical as it was mortifying ; for the great vas- 
sals threatened to depose him unless he obtained the pope's 
absolution, and this could not be done without humbling 
himself before a power which he detested. But there was no 
choice, and he set forth towards Italy to beg pardon at the 
feet of the sovereign pontiff. Gregory was at the castle of 
Canosa, with the countess Matilda of Tuscany, who had de- 
voted herself to the defence of the Holy See. Henry was 
compelled to submit to a public and solemn penance, waiting 
three winter-days in the castle court with nothing but a 
woollen tunic to protect him from the cold. At last the pope 
granted him absolution, and he withdrew to meditate new 
plans of revenge. 

183. Henry IV. in Italy. — Death of Gregory VIL — The 
German lords were not satisfied. They had hoped to see 



CONTBST BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND EMPIRE. 205 

the emperor deposed, and reproached the pope for his indul- 
gence. Henry had hardly reached Germany when the as- 
sembly of Torscheim proclaimed his brother-in-law, Rudolph 
of Suabia, in his stead ; and his son Conrad revolted against 
him in Italy. But Conrad, returning to his duty, marched 
against the pope ; while Henry, at the head of those of his 
vassals who had remained faithful, pursued his rival, vainly 
defended by the pontifical anathema. Rudolph was killed 
in Thuringia ; and the same day, the defeat of the troops 
of the countess Matilda opened for the emperor the road to 
Rome. Henry went to be crowned by the anti-pope Clement 
III., and besiege in the castle of St. Angelo, Gregory VII., 
who, with unshaken firmness, still refused to make the slight- 
est concession. The heroic old man was delivered by Robert 
Guiscard, who burnt part of the city, and gave the pope a 
refuge -in his states. Soon after Gregory died, repeating 
these words : " I loved justice and hated iniquity, and there- 
fore, I die in exile" (1085). 

184. The contest continues under Urban IT. and Pascal 
II. — The new pope, Victor III. (1086-1087), shrunk from 
the legacy of disputes and combats which his predecessor 
had left him, and made peace with the emperor. But two 
years afterwards, he was replaced by Urban II., who re- 
sumed Gregory's great work with ardor (1088-1089). Urban 
shook the emperor's power, by making his two sons revolt 
against him in succession ; and bound all Europe to the Holy 
See, by exciting the enthusiasm of the crusades (v. ch. xii. 
§ 11). The people, rushing to the holy war, abandoned a 
prince overwhelmed by the anathemas of the church. An 
army of crusaders drove Henry IV. and the anti-pope Cle- 
ment from Italy. 

Pascal II. (1099—1118) continued to support the sons of 
the unhappy Henry, who died in misery after having been 
compelled to renounce the empire. The pope hoped great 



206 CONTEST BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND EMPIRE. 

things from the new emperor Henry V., who owed him his 
crown ; but the parricidal son repaid his benefactor with in- 
gratitude. He seized upon the person of the pope, treated 
him with great harshness, and would only consent to restore 
him to liberty on the promise of an unconditional surrender 
of the right of investiture. 

Pascal soon retracted a promise wrested from him by 
force (1112). Two German councils had already excom- 
municated the emperor for his sacrilegious violence, and the 
council of the Lateran renewed the prohibition of giving ec- 
clesiastical investitures to laymen, or receiving them from 
them. Henry V. opposed the decrees of the church sword 
in hand, entered Italy (1116), drove Pascal from Rome, in- 
vaded the inheritance of the countess Matilda which she had 
bequeathed to the Holy See, and had himself crowned by the 
anti-pope Gregory VIII. But at last, worn out with the 
troubles of Germany, where a strong party sustained the 
cause of the pontiff, he consented to open negotiations with 
the legitimate pope Calixtus, who had been re-established at 
Rome. 

185. Concordate of Worms. — End of the war of investi- 
tures. — A diet was held at Worms (1122), and after long 
conferences between the ministers of the emperor and the 
envoys of the pope, the emperor consented to the free election 
of bishops and abbots, renouncing the investiture of the mitre 
and the cross ; that is the ecclesiastical investitui'e, which was 
reserved to the bishops. The pope, on his side, gave up the 
investiture by the sceptre of the ecclesiastical domains, 
which were subject, like all others, to feudal tenure. Thus 
were divided the temporal and the spiritual jurisdiction; the 
secular and the religious power. The pope was no longer 
any thing more than the spiritual head of the church ; the 
emperor, the first and greatest king of Europe. The politi- 
cal unity of Christendom was broken for ever. 



CONTESTS OF THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES. 207 

The agreement between the priesthood and the empire 
was confirmed by the general council of the Lateran (1123). 
From that time, the election of the pope has belonged exclu- 
sively to the cardinals, being no longer subordinate to the 
will of the emperor. The war of investitures was ended, 
but other motives soon revived the rivalry between Italy and 
Germany. 



§ IV. 

CONTESTS OF THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES UNDER THE HOUSE 

OF SUABIA. INNOCENT III. INNOCENT IV. FREDERIC BAR- 

BAROSSA. FREDERIC II. 

186. Beginning of the contest ielween the Guelphs and 
Ghihellines. — Lothario II. — During the war of investitures 
and amid the internal confusion and civil wars of Germany, 
the power of the great vassals had increased prodigiously at 
the expense of the power of the emperors. To counter- 
balance these encroachments, the emperors had created a 
nobility which depended upon them alone ; and increased the 
temporal power of the clergy, in order to oppose it to that of 
their vassals. It was all in vain. The clergy generally made 
common cause with the lay-nobles, and the lords who held 
directly of the crown were not strong enough to stand against 
the older and more powerful barons. Henry IV. had sunk 
in the contest. Under Henry V. the hereditary transmis- 
sion was established, and became the firmest foundation of 
feudal power. At last the extinction of the imperial house 
of Franconia seemed to decide the contest, and give free 
course to the ambitious pretensions of the barons. At the 
death of Henry V. two old families — the Welphs (Guelphs), 
and the Hohenstaufen lords of Wibelin (Ghibellines) — dis- 



208 CONTESTS OF THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES. 

puted the crown. The former held Bavaria and Saxony, 
and in Italy had temporary possession of Tuscany and part 
of Lombardy, the rich inheritance of the countess Matilda ; 
the latter were masters of the duchies of Suabia and Fran- 
conia. The preference which one of them obtained, became 
the origin of the famous rivalry of the Guelphs and Ghi- 
bellines. 

Lothario II. duke of Saxony, was elected by the Ger- 
manic diet, and crowned by the legate of the pope (1125) ; 
but Frederic of Hohenstaufen duke of Suabia, and Conrad of 
Franconia, refused to recognize him. Lothario passed the 
greater part of his reign in contending against these power- 
ful adversaries. He died in 1137, on his return from a 
brilliant expedition into Italy, and after having invested his 
nephew Henry the Proud, duke of Bavaria, with the duchy 
of Saxony. 

187. Conrad of Franconia. — Accession of Frederic Bar- 
harossa. — After his death, the contest was renewed with 
double energy. Conrad having been elected by the diet of 
Coblentz, Henry the Proud, who had thought himself sure 
of the crown, refused to recognize him. The diet of Wurtz- 
burgh stripped him of his states, which were divided between 
the Margrave of Austria and the lords of Brandenburgh. But 
the Saxons protested energetically in the name of Henry the 
Lion, the young son of Henry the Proud, while his brother 
Welph VI. maintained himself in Bavaria ; and it was only 
by having Saxony restored to Henry at the diet of Frankfort 
(1142), that the emperor could put an end to hostilities. The 
voice of St. Bernard calling the people to the second crusade, 
appeased all these troubles for a moment. Conrad set out 
with seventy thousand warriors, while Henry the Lion ac- 
complished his vow by making war upon the idolatrous Scla- 
vonians, and extending his states towards the north. But 
the contest seemed to be upon the point of reviving, when 



CONTESTS OF THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES. 209 

Conrad's death left the crown to Frederic Bariarossa, duke 
ofSuabia (1152). 

This prince, who as soon as he mounted the throne de- 
cided as arbitrator between the princes of Denmark, gave the 
title of king to the duke of Bohemia and compelled the king 
of Hungary to do him homage, hastened nevertheless to 
satisfy most of the pretensions of his rivals by restoring Ba- 
varia to Henry the Lion, and Tuscany to the brother of 
Henry the Proud. The affairs of Italy already called him 
beyond the Alps. 

188. Troubles in Ilaly. — First expedition of Frederic 
beyond the Alps. — Pope Innocent II. had just recognized 
Roger II. king of Sicily, Apulia, and Calabria, on condi- 
tion of tribute and homage, when great troubles broke out 
at Rome. A monk, of an ardent, enthusiastic spirit and cap- 
tivating eloquence, Arnaldo da Brescia, disciple of Abelard, 
declaimed vehemently against the temporal power of the 
popes — denying them even the right of governing Rome, 
where he wished to re-establish the republic ; and calling upon 
the pope and bishops to surrender their estates, and live upon 
the alms of believers. The people embraced his doctrines 
with transport ; and Innocent II., Celestine II., and Lucius 
II., found all their efforts vain to stem the torrent. The re- 
public was proclaimed by the people, and the sovereign 
power conferred upon Count Giordano, with the title of patri- 
cian. Pope Lucius was mortally wounded in an assault 
upon the capitol. Eugene III. succeeded in re-entering the 
city, with the aid of the citizens of Tivoli (1149); but Adrian 
IV. (1154) was driven away by a new revolution, and 
called the emperor Frederic to his assistance. At the same 
time, several cities of Lombardy in league with Pavia, de- 
voted themselves to the imperial or Ghibelline cause, in order 
to obtain the protection of the emperor against the powerful 
city of Milan. 



210 CONTESTS OF THE GTTELPHS AND GHIBELLINES. 

Frederic, sure of finding partisans beyond the Alps, has- 
tened to Italy. The Milanese were compelled to open their 
gates, and swear allegiance to him ; and Pavia offered him 
the crown of Lombardy. Arnaldo da Brescia perished at. 
the stake ; but the republicans shut the gates of Rome, and 
the haughty German, in the midst of his triumph, was com- 
pelled to receive the imperial crown in a suburb without en- 
tering the city. He returned to Germany to prepare the 
means of vengeance. 

189. Contest hetween Frederic and pope Alexander III. — 
League of Lomlardy. — But foreign intervention had rallied 
all minds to the national cause. The pope, who no longer 
had any thing to fear from Arnaldo da Brescia, was little 
disposed to acknowledge the imperial supremacy. Thus his 
interest was opposed to that of the empire, and the quarrel 
of Guelphs and Ghibellines became the quarrel of the Holy 
See and the empire. Four jurists agreed in declaring that 
the emperor was legally possessed of universal sovereignty, 
and Frederic began the exercise of it by attempting to annul 
the election of Alexander III. (llGO-1181). Alexander 
replied by a bull of excommunication, and by calling the 
Guelphs of Lombardy, William II. of Sicily, and all Christian 
princes, to his defence. The emperor advanced at the head 
of his army, burning the harvests, laying waste the fields, 
and massacring the prisoners that fell into his hands. After 
a long siege, in which the citizens displayed the greatest 
firmness and self-devotion, he took Milan, threw down the 
walls, and passed the ploughshare over its smoking ruins. 

For a moment, the Lombards were terror-struck and sub- 
mitted to the emperor. But exasperated by the cruelties of 
the imperial governors (podestd), they found courage in in- 
dignation, and formed a league for the enfranchisement of 
Italy (1167). The pope declared for the league of Lombardy. 
Venice sided with the Guelphs (anti-imperialists), because 



CONTESTS OF THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES. 211 

Genoa, her rival, had declared for the Ghibellines ; and the 
pope, in reward, granted her the sovereignty of the Adriatic. 
The inhabitants of Milan, who had been dispersed through 
the neighboring towns, collected together and rebuilt their 
city. Then all joined together and built another city, as a 
check upon Pavia — Alessandria della paglia. Frederic laid 
siege to the new city before the ramparts were completed 
(1174), but was compelled to retire ; and the defeat of Leg- 
nano put an end to his absolute supremacy in Italy. At last 
peace was made at Constance (1183), and the independence 
of the allied cities secured with the acknowledgment of the 
suzerainty of the emperor. Frederic and the pope met at 
Venice, and the imperial crown was again humbled before 
the tiara. 

190. Poioer of the emperor in Italy after the union of the 
kingdom of the two Sicilies. — In the contest between the pope 
and the emperor, the Normans had remained attached to the 
papal party ever since Innocent II. had conferred upon Roger 
II. the title of king of the two Sicilies. The new kingdom 
was going to take a very ditferent part under the dynasty 
which succeeded to the Normans. Frederic Barbarossa had 
prepared this change by marrying his son to Roger's daughter 
(1186). Shortly after, he died in the crusade (v. Hist, of the 
Crusades, ch. xii.). His son Henry VI., already king of the 
Romans and soon after emperor, claimed the inheritance of 
Roger. The pope, of whom the Norman fiefs of Italy were 
held, unwilling to leave this rich and beautiful country 
in the hands of strangers, conferred the investiture upon Tan- 
cred, an illegitimate son of the last king. But Henry crushed 
the national party, and revenged himself upon the leader 
of the Sicilian army by having him tied upon a throne of red- 
hot iron, and crowned with a crown of burning copper. Italy 
trembled at his cruelty. The limits of the empire reached 
the extremities of the peninsula, surrounding the papal terri- 



212 CONTESTS OF THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES. 

tories on all sides and menacing their independence more 
than ever. It required an Innocent III., imitator of Gregory 
VII., to resist the encroachments of imperial power, subdue 
the republican spirit in Rome, revive the religious impulse 
throughout Europe, and organize a new crusade. 

191. Pontificate of Innocent III. — Accession of Frederic 
II. — In a pontificate of eighteen years (1198-1216), Inno- 
cent restores the ascendency of the Holy See, and governs 
Europe by his energetic will. In Italy, the states of the 
church recover their unity and peace. In France he sus- 
tains the rights of the church, those of an outraged princess 
against the powerful Philip Augustus (v. ch. xv. § i.), and 
excites the crusade against the Albigensis (ch. xv.). In Eng- 
land he receives the homage of the king, which makes the 
whole kingdom a fief of the pope. In the north, he sends 
missionaries to conquer Estonia, Prussia, and Livonia. In 
the East, he revives the crusades, and for a short time the 
Gi'eek church submits to the Roman (ch. xii. § iv.) ; and 
finally, he protects the young Frederic, the successor of 
Henry VI. in Sicily against his powerful rivals, Philip of 
Suabia and Otho IV. of Brunswick. Frederic was crowned 
at Aix-la-Chapelle (1215), and had his son Henry pro- 
claimed king of Sicily. 

192. Frederic's contest with the pope and the cities of Lorn- 
hardy. — Frederic, who owed his elevation to the Holy See, 
gave proof of his gratitude by renouncing the succession of 
the countess Matilda. But no sooner had he been crowned 
emperor at Rome, and obtained for his son the title of king 
of the Romans, than he changed his policy. With such a 
character it could not have been otherwise ; for he was full 
as ambitious as the pope himself, crafty, a skilful dissembler, 
unscrupulous in the choice of means, and not much disposed 
to yield to extravagant pretensions advanced in the name 
of a religion which he did not believe. The pope {Honorius 



CONTESTS OF THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES. 213 

III., 1216-1227) taking the alarm at his success in southern 
Italy, where his chancellor Pietro delle Vigne had established 
a new legislation, endeavored to force him to join the cru- 
sades ; and just as he was upon the point of setting out for 
the Holy Land, fulminated a bull of excommunication, and 
preached a crusade against him in Italy. At the same time 
he roused the cities of Lombardy, which formed a new league 
for the independence of Italy with Milan at their head (1225), 
and sent his own troops to invade the kingdom of Naples. 
Frederic returning from the crusade, defeated the rebels, 
who were united under the guidance of his own son Henry; 
and followed up his success with the aid of the ferocious 
Eccellino, chief of the Ghibellines of Lombardy. The 
Lombard league, after various vicissitudes, and after having 
at one time forced Frederic to grant them an advantageous 
peace, was reduced to a few cities which were defended with 
difficulty (1238). But pope Gregory IX. (1227-1241), al- 
ready nearly a hundred years old, but of an energy which 
age had not diminished, roused new enemies against the em- 
peror in every direction, and convoked a general council. 
The great victory of Meloria, gained by Frederic's natural 
son, the beautiful Enzio, was a death-blow to the pope 
(1241), but failed to secure the triumph of the imperial 
cause. 

193. Deposition of the e?nperor. — New wars. — Death of 
Frederic. — His portrait. — After an interregnum of eighteen 
months, the tiara was placed upon the head of Innocent IV., 
who, being obliged to flee from Italy (1245), opened a council 
at Lyons, to which he cited the emperor. Frederic refused 
to appear, and the pope pronounced with great solemnit}^ an 
anathema and decree of deposition. Most of the German 
princes sustained his decision, and raised two pretenders to 
the throne. But it was no longer that great contest between 
church and empire, which had divided Europe. The strug- 



214 CONTESTS OF THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES. 

gle had resumed the proportions of a party quarrel, and St. 
Lewis with all his piety, refused to declare for the pope 
against the emperor. Frederic, at the news of his deposition, 
had seized the imperial crown ; and putting it upon his head, 
exclaimed — " Innocent has not yet snatched it from me ; and 
before he can do it, rivers of blood shall flow," The media- 
tion of St. Lewis could not prevent civil war from breaking 
out anew in Germany and Italy. Eccellino and Frederic 
vied with one another in ferocity. Crowds of prisoners were 
massacred daily ; and others horribly mutilated, and then set 
free to carry the terror of their fate among their friends. At 
last, Frederic's partisans grew tired. They were horror- 
struck at seeing him replace his German guard by a guard 
of Saracens, and give up Christians to the fury of infidels in 
the heart of Italy. Abandoned by all, betrayed even by 
those who had served him most faithfully, tormented by sus- 
picion and apprehensions of the attempts which his excom- 
munication might excite against his person, he ended his 
days in a remote corner of Italy (1250) a prey to grief and 
despair. 

Thus passed in deplorable disputes, a reign which might 
have been glorious for Germany and the whole of Europe. 
Vastly superior, by his political views and the extent of his 
knowledge, to the greater part of his contemporaries, Frederic 
loved the arts and sciences ; spoke several languages with 
facility ; took pleasure in drawing the learned men of all 
countries to his court ; formed libraries and universities, and 
favored with all his power the early dawn of civilization. 
But all his efforts were sterile, and his work did not survive 
him. The Christian Europe of the middle ages could not 
rally around a king, whose manners and belief seemed to fit 
him for a Mussulman rather than for a Christian throne. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HISTOET OF THE CEUSADES. 



SUMMARY. 

§ I. State of Europe at the moment of the first crusade. — Power of 
feudality. — State of the East. — Decay of the Greek empire, which in- 
vokes the assistance of the West. — Oppression of the Christians of the 
East under the Seljukites and Fatimites. 

§ II. Peter the Hermit. — Urban II. — Council of Clermont. — First 
crusade. — Taking of Nice. — Battle of Dorylaeum. — Principalities of 
Antioch and Edessa. — Taking of Jerusalem. — Godfrey of Bouillon, 
king of Jerusalem. — Organization of the new kingdom. — Orders of 
knighthood. — Successors of Godfrey of Bouillon. — Noureddin. — Decay 
of the kingdom of Jerusalem. 

St. Bernard preaches the second crusade undertaken by the emperor 
Conrad, and Lewis VII. of France. — Reverses in Asia Minor. — Saladiu. 
— Battle of Tiberiad. — Taking of Jerusalem. 

§ III. Third crusade. — Frederic Barbarossa dies in Cilicia. — Philip 
Augustus, and Richard Coeur de Lion. — Their disputes. — Return of the 
• king of France. — Useless exploits, return, and captivity of Richard. — 
Kingdom of Cyprus. 

§ IV. Fourth crusade diverted from its object. — Influence of the Vene- 
tians. — Taking of Zara. — Foundation of the Latin empire of Constanti- 
nople. — Division of the empire of the East. — Venice gathers the fruits of 
the crusades. — Decline and fall of the Latin empire. 

Crusade of children. — Efforts of Innocent III. to revive the ardor for 
the holy wars. — Fifth and sixth crusades undertaken by German princes. 
— Frederic II. in Palestine. — His policy with regard to the Mussulmen. 



216 STATE OF EUROPE AT THE FIEST CRUSADE. 

Invasion of the Moguls. — Gengis or Tchenghis-Khan. — His conquests 
in Asia. — Invasion of the Moguls in Europe. 

§ V. The Kowaresmians driven back tovi^ards Palestine. — The sul- 
tan of Egypt master of JervLsalem.-^Seventh crusade undertaken by St. 
Lewis and directed against Egypt. — Success, reverses, captivity of 
the holy king. — He organizes the defence of the Christian cities in Syria. 
— The old man of the mountain. 

Invasion of the Mamelukes in Palestine. — Eighth crusade in Africa. 
— Death of St. Lewis under the walls of Tunis. — Treaty concluded by 
Charles of Anjou. — Destruction of the Christian power in the East. 

§ VI. Political results of the crusades. — Enfeeblement of feudality. — 
Chivalry. — Development of the commons. — Extension of the royal power. 
— Different people gradually brought nearer together. — Commercial, in- 
dustrial, and literary results. 



§1. 



STATE OF EUROPE AT THE EPOCH OF THE FIRST CRUSADE. 

STATE OF THE EAST. 

194. Power of feudality. — At the end of the eleventh 
century, Europe seemed admirably prepared for some great 
external movement ; for the nations, still imperfectly or- 
ganized and whom the royal power could neither restrain 
nor direct, were a prey to restless agitation under feudal op- 
pression. The pontifical power, triumphant in its contest 
with the empire, offered a common centre and could move 
the people at will. It had broken up, for a short time, the 
great national wars, and realized in a certain sense that 
great Christian unity which, in spite of the infinite diversity 
of national interests, feelings, and manners, was ready to 
move as one body under the influence of the religious feeling 
by which it had been organized. The feudal aristocracy, 
constantly agitated by those private wars which, without any 



-^TATE OF EUROPE AT THE FIRST CRUSADE. 217 

permanent result, spread desolation through provinces and 
kingdoms, was only waiting for an occasion to display its 
turbulent activity in greater expeditions. 

195. State of the different people of Europe. — Some 
people, however, had their crusade at home, and could not 
follow the general impulse. Spain had to defend western 
Europe against Islamism. The Almoravides had just crossed 
over from Africa ; but Henry of Burgundy built up the king- 
dom of Portugal, as a barrier against them (1094). Al- 
phonzo VI. of Castile, and Peter of Aragon, were extending 
their frontiers ; and the Cid Campeador, the hero of Christian 
Spain, established an independent principality at Valencia. 
At the other extremity of Europe, the struggle between 
Christianity and idolatry was still going on among the Scan- 
dinavians and Sclavonians. Russia was a prey to constant dis- 
cord. The Christians of Poland were constantly at war with 
the pagans of Prussia, whose final conquest was reserved for 
the Teutonic knights. In Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, 
there was a contest from province to province between king 
and people; and at the movement of the first crusade (1095), 
Erick, the best king of Denmark, could only undertake a sterile 
pilgrimage, while the good Inge of Sweden was burning the 
pagan temples of Upsal, and overthrowing the idols. 

In central Europe, the voice of the sovereign pontiff could 
not be raised in vain. Germany, still troubled by the long 
war which her princes had sustained against the Holy See, 
and by the political rivalry of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, 
yielded slowly to the general impulse. But in France, the 
feudal power was being developed in all its energy under 
the indolent Philip I., and was all ready for a great effort. 
In England, the warlike and adventurous spii'it of the Nor- 
mans had entered with the conqueror, and drew off one of his 
sons to the Holy Land. The Normans of Italy, whose pro- 
digious exploits had created three new principalities, were 

10 



218 STATE OF EUROPE AT THE FIRST CRUSADE. 

already sending their armies against the southern province 
of Greece. 

196. State of the East. — Oppression of the Christians. — 
In the East, all was division and decay. Alexis Comnenes, 
pressed at the same time by Robert Guiscard and the troops 
of the Turk, Malek-Schah, despaired of being able to con- 
tinue his resistance alone. The Seljuk empire was divided 
when Malek-Schah died, but still the Mussulman invasion 
drew nearer and nearer to Europe. Then the Greek empe- 
ror addressed his lamentable supplications to the West, calling 
all her people to the defence of religion and humanity. 

The people of the West had also injuries of their own to 
avenge. From the earliest times, pilgrimages had been a 
favorite penance among Christians. They believed that the 
benediction of Heaven was promised to those who visited Cal- 
vary or the tomb of Christ ; or renewed their baptism in the 
waters of the Jordan. Under Constantine, and after Helen 
had built magnificent churches at Golgotha and Bethlehem, 
they became still more frequent, and were not stopped by the 
disastrous period of the invasion. The Barbarians respected 
the cross and staff of the humble traveller. 

When Judea fell with Syria into the hands of the Mussul- 
men, the Christians could still continue their pious journeys 
with some degree of security — at least during the brilliant 
period of the caliphate. But when the Mussulman empire 
fell to decay, a frightful tyranny replaced the tolerance of the 
first caliphs. Believers were overwhelmed with vexations, 
subjected to enormous tributes. A leather girdle at their 
waist showed that they were looked upon as slaves. More 
than once they were forbidden to celebrate the rites of their 
religion, and their churches were turned into stables. A few 
monks (1048) collected in a convent near the church of the 
Holy Sepulchre, offered their hospitality to the Christians 
of the West. But the charity of the Brothers of St. John of 



CHRISTIAN KINGDOM AT JERUSALEM. 219 

Jerusalem was powerless against the hatred of the unbe- 
lievers. The pilgrims who dared to encounter persecution, 
generally came back plundered by the Saracens; and weep- 
ing the misfortunes of the holy city, which the conquest of 
Jerusalem by the Seljuk Turks had carried to the highest 
point (1086). Gregory called Christendom to the deliver- 
ance of the holy places ; but his voice was not heard amid 
the quarrels of the West. In Palestine, meanwhile, the op- 
pression grew worse from day to day. The Christians were 
thrown into dungeons, with their priests and bishops ; and a 
great number of pilgrims were put to death before they 
reached Jerusalem. The recapture of the holy city by the 
Fatimites (1094), exposed them to the vengeance of an irri- 
tated conqueror. 



§11. 

CHRISTIAN KINGDOM AT JERITSALEM. 

197. Peter the Hermit preaches the first crusade. — Coun- 
cil of Clermont. — ^At last a poor hermit by the name of Peter 
appears before Urban II. He tells him that he has seen 
the holy places profaned, and has wept with the patriarch of 
Jerusalem. He crosses the Alps barefoot and with a cruci- 
fix in his hand, to relate the sufferings of his brethren. At 
the same time the emperor of the East, Alexis Comnenes, 
invokes earnestly the assistance of Christendom. An im- 
mense multitude collects at the council of Clermont (1095). 
They renew the Truce of God, to think only of the holy war. 
The voice of Urban and of Peter stirs the whole assembly 
to enthusiasm. It is the will of God, is the cry. The bishop 
of Puy is the first to receive the cross from the hands of the 
pope ; and all mark the holy sign upon their robes, swearing 



220 CHRISTIAN KINGDOM AT JERUSALEM. 

that they will free the holy sepulchre. " If any one," says 
the council, " sets out for Jerusalem, not for honor or gain, 
but from a spirit of devotion, this journey shall be to him in 
the stead of every other penance." At the same time, it put 
the crusaders, their families, and their estates under the pro- 
tection of the church, suspending all their debts during their 
journey to the Holy Land. 

A first band set out before the time marked by Urban. 
Men, women, and children marched together towards the 
East, without arms and without provisions ; and with no other 
guide than Peter the Hermit, and a poor gentleman called 
Walter the Penniless. They were soon compelled to sepa- 
rate, and most of them perished in Hungary, or in Asia 
Minor. 

198. Departure of the crusaders. — Battle of Dorylaeura. — 
Taking of Jerusalem. — But their fate did not discourage 
others. Soon a regular army set forward with Godfrey of 
Bouillon, duke of Lower Lorraine, at its head ; and his 
brothers Baldwin and Eustachius, Raymond of Toulouse, 
Bohemond of Tarentuin, and his nephew Tancred, and a great 
number of other nobles. The pontifical power was repre- 
sented by Ademar of Montiel, the pope's legate ; but no king 
appeared at the head of the movement ; the power was still 
in the hands of the feudal aristocracy. 

At the approach of these redoubtable auxiliaries, the em- 
peror Alexis, trembling for his own states, made all haste to 
furnish them with vessels to cross the Bosphorus. Six hun- 
dred thousand (?) crusaders passed into Asia Minor, where 
they found Peter the Hermit, who had escaped from the dis- 
asters which had destroyed his companions. 

The first exploit of the Christians, was the siege of Nice. 
But just as they were about to enter the city, it was given up 
to the emperor Alexis, who, fearing the power of the crusaders 
almost as much as that of the Turks, was beginning to em- 



CHRISTIAN KINGDOM AT JERUSALEM. 221 

ploy the most odious means for the destruction of those who 
had come to his assistance. Thus it was only through a 
thousand obstacles that they succeeded in overtaking the 
army of the sultan of Roum, near Borylaeum. In the first 
surprise of a sudden attack, the crusaders wavered for a mo- 
ment ; but soon rallying to the cry of God wills it, swept the 
field in triumph. 

Baldwin, by the advice of an Armenian prince, advances 
to Edessa, where he is adopted by the king and founds the 
first Christian principality in the East. At the same time, 
the crusaders, masters of Tarsus, which Tancred and Bohe- 
mond had carried by assault, cross the Taurus and lay siege 
to Antioch. They were already reduced to a hundred thou- 
sand fighting men ; and the plague, famine, and their own 
dissensions, decimated them anew under the walls of this 
powerful capital of Syria. Finally, the gates were opened 
by a renegade : the army of the sultans of Aleppo and Da- 
mascus came only to be cut to pieces, and the city was given 
to Bohemond, who soon extended his sway over the neighbor- 
ing provinces. The army still continued to advance. In 
1099, it reached Jerusalem, exhausted by battles and disease ; 
and yet, still full of enthusiasm and valor. After a short 
siege, a brilliant assault gave them the city in spite of the 
obstinate defence of the besieged. But a frightful massacre 
'dishonored the triumph of the soldiers of the cross. Godfrey 
turned in horror from the scene of carnage, and dropping his 
arms, went barefoot to pray in the church of the Resurrec- 
tion ; and his example disarmed, it is said, the fury of his 
followers. 

199. Godfrey of Bouillon, king of Jerusalem. — Orders of 
knighthood. — Godfrey of Bouillon, whose virtues and valor 
the whole army admired, was elected king of Jerusalem ; 
and refusing io ivear a crown of gold, where the Saviour of the 
world had worn a crown of thorns, he took only the title of 



222 CHRISTIAN KINGDOM AT JERUSALEM. 

baron of the Holy Sepulchre. The victory of Ascalon, in 
which he defeated the armies of Bagdad, Damascus, and 
Egypt, united against the common enemy, confirmed his 
rising dominion. The exploits of Tancred, the bravest of the 
Christian knights, completed the conquest of Judea. At the 
same time Godfrey was occupied with organizing his govern- 
ment. The code of the assizes of Jerusalem introduced the 
feudal system into Asia. The king had his vassals and rear- 
vassals. The counties of Edessa and Tripoli, with the prin- 
cipalities of Antioch and Galilee, were the great fiefs of the 
new kingdom. A superior court, in which the king presided 
in person, judged the causes of the lords. Those of the com- 
mons were brought to an inferior court. For the natives, 
there was a Syrian tribunal. Several cities received muni- 
cipal privileges, and governed themselves. Chivalry, which 
in Europe was consecrated to the protection of the weak and 
the oppressed, devoted itself in the East to the defence of the 
faith and the destruction of unbelievers. The irothers hospi- 
talers, who had been established to take care of pilgrims, took 
up arms for the defence of the new kingdom, and became the 
knights of St. John of Jerusalein. The celebrated order of 
the knights of the Temple, who undertook to be always the 
first to engage and the last to retreat, was founded shortly 
after (1119); and in 1190, the Teutonic knights. These 
warriors soon became the terror of the Mussulmen, and the 
strongest support of the Christian power in the East. 

200. Godfrey'' s successors. — Decline of the kingdom of 
Jerusalem. — Godfrey died a year after the taking of Jerusa- 
lem, and was replaced by his brother Baldtvin (1100). Under 
the reign of this prince and that of his successor Baldwin II. 
(1118-1131), the crusaders continued to gain ground in spite 
of the defeat and captivity of the brave Bohemond of Antioch, 
and the rapid decline of his principality. The taking of St. 
John of Acre, of Beyruth, and Sidon by Baldwin, and that of 



CHRISTIAN KINGDOM AT JERUSALEM. 223 

Tyre — which was attacked at the same time by the army of 
Baldwin 11. and the fleet of the Venetians — extended the 
Christian dominion on the shores of the Mediterranean. Foul- 
ques of Anjou, taking advantage of the dissensions of the infi- 
dels (1131-1142), obtained some successj and saved Damas- 
cus with the aid of the Greeks, sincere allies for the first time, 
of the orthodox Christians. But with his death ended the pros- 
perity of the kingdom of Jerusalem. . Young Baldwin HI. 
(1142-1162), had hardly received the crown when his throne 
was shaken by the conquests of Zenghi, sovereign of several 
Turkish sultanates which he had conquered successively, and 
the triumphs of his still more dreaded son Noureddin. In spite 
of the energetic defence of the old Josselin of Courtenay, 
who, though mortally wounded, still led his soldiers to vic- 
tory, Edessa, capital of the most flourishing Christendom of 
the East, fell into the hands of the infidels. The Christians 
uttered a cry of terror which reached Europe. 

201. Second crusade. — Conrad and Lewis VII. — The 
illustrious St. Bernard undertook to preach a new crusade. 
At the assembly of Vezelay (1147), and in spite of the advice 
of the wise Suger, abbot of St. Dennis, he made Lewis VII. 
take the cross as a reparation for the massacx'e of Vitry. His 
wife, Eleonora; the counts of Toulouse, of Champagne, of 
Flanders ; and a multitude of inferior nobles, followed their 
example. So great was the enthusiasm, that St. Bernard 
tore up his robe to furnish crosses to those who wished to 
enrol themselves under the holy banner. The emperor 
Conrad, drawn away by the eloquent preacher, received a 
consecrated banner from his hands, and swore to go wherever 
the will of Heaven called him. He was the first to set out. 
But his soldiers, betrayed by the guides whom the treacher- 
ous emperor of the East, Manual Comnenes, had given them, 
were surprised and defeated in the defiles of Lycaonia ; and 
the king of France, on his arrival at Nice, found nothing but 



224 CHRISTIAN KINGDOM AT JERUSALEM. 

the remnants of an army which had set forth in such brilliant 
array and with so much hope. Then dissensions sprang up 
among the chiefs. Lewis the Younger was near perishing 
in the defiles of Pamphylia, where he fought for a long time 
all alone, with his back to a rock ; and only escaped, because 
he was taken for a common soldier. Fatigue, famine, the 
perfidy, of the Greeks who shut the gates of their cities upon 
the crusaders, had decimated the army when it arrived 
before Damascus. This powerful city, protected by its high 
walls and the strong palisades which surrounded its gardens, 
was besieged without success ; and the two princes soon re- 
turned to Europe, without soldiers and without glory. 

202. Conquest of Saladin. — Battle of Tiberiad. — Fall of 
the kingdom of Jerusalein. — Meanwhile, Jerusalem had not 
received the succor which she implored, and Baldwin III. 
continued his difficult struggle against Noureddin. Amaury 
(1162-1173), his successor, after several unsuccessful expe- 
ditions against Egypt, saw that country fall into the hands 
of Saladin, son of Ayoub. It was all over with the kingdom 
of Jerusalem. Amaury, and his successor Baldwin IV. (1173 
—1183), did all that they could to defend their kingdom ; but 
in spite of all their efforts, Saladin's dominion spread with 
menacing rapidity. Once again, the cross triumphed in the 
plains of Ascalon. Baldwin, though blind and a leper, cut 
the army of the infidels in pieces ; and Saladin fled aci'oss 
the desert, crying out that the star of the family of Ayoub had 
paled (1176). But the fruits of the victory were lost by the 
proud presumption of the Christians. Saladin regained the 
advantage, and was already overrunning the Christian states, 
when, at the death of Baldwin V. (1186), the sceptre passed 
to the hands of the feeble Guy of Lvsignan. The degrada- 
tion of the royal authority ; the all-powerful influence of the 
military orders, which, moreover, were divided among them- 
selves ; the corruption of mannei's and neglect of discipline, 



CRUSADES BY SEA. 225 

had prepared the ruin of the kingdom of Jerusalem. The 
massacre of five hundred knights in Galilee, was the prelude 
of the bloody battle of Tiberiad (1187). This day, the 
Christians fought heroically ; and well they might, for it 
was to decide the fate of Christianity in the East. The 
knights of St. John and the knights of the Temple, gathering 
around the true cross, repulsed every attack. But Saladin 
set fire to the grass of the plain. The Christians, siu'rounded 
by smoke and flames, fought only at venture ; and their 
ranks were already beginning to fall into disorder, when the 
capture of the true cross by the infidels, struck terror into 
the boldest heart. Guy of Lusignan and the grand-master 
of the Templars, fell into the hands of the Mussulmen ; the 
last defendei's of the holy sepulchre were taken or slain. 
The sultan, enraged at the resistance which he had encoun- 
tered, had a great many knights killed in cold blood. Im- 
mediately Jericho, Ptolemais, Cesarea, Jaffa, and Ascalon, the 
city of glorious memories, opened their gates to the conquer- 
or. Jerusalem, pressed on all sides, held out with difficulty 
a few days longer. The inhabitants bought their lives with 
gold, but were driven from the city ; and the churches were 
changed to mosques. 



§ III. 

CRUSADES BY SEA. 

203. Third crusade. — Frederic Barlarossa. — Philip Au- 
gustus. — Richard Cceur de Lion. — The fall of Jerusalem, 
which ought to have been long foreseen, caused a general 
consternation in Europe. William, archbishop of Tyre, eye- 
witness of this great disaster, came to tell the sad tale to the 
princes of the West. At his voice, Philip Augustus of 

10* 



226 CRUSADES BY SEA. 

France, and Richard of England, take the cross. A tax 
of a tenth is imposed upon all the lands of the two kingdoms, 
without excepting even those of the church (Saladin's tithe), 
to meet the expenses of the expedition. The emperor 
Frederic Barbarossa, sets out first with an army of a hun- 
dred thousand men (1189). Following the route traced by 
the old crusaders, he crosses Greece, intimidates the cowardly 
Isaac Angelus, who had made an alliance with Saladin, 
and advances through Asia Minor in spite of the attacks and 
treason of the sultan of Iconium ; but dies from bathing in 
the icy waters of the Selef, after having lost the greater part 
of his troops. The feeble remnants of his army went to join 
the other crusaders under the orders of his son, Frederic 
of Suabia. 

The kings of France and England, profiting better by the 
example of the first crusaders, had avoided the dangers of the 
route over land, by embarking together at Marseilles. In 
Sicily, where they quarrelled on account of an usurper, they 
separated ,• and Philip landed first before St. John of Acre 
(Ptolemais), which king Lusignan, having regained his 
liberty, was besieging with Conrad marquis of Tyre. Un- 
fortunately, strong dissensions prevailed among these chiefs. 
Conrad and Lusignan contended for the sterile title of king 
of Jerusalem. Richard of England had irritated Philip anew, 
by marrying a princess of Navarre instead of his sister; and 
while the king of France was fighting the infidels, the king 
of England had stopped on his way to make war on Isaac 
Comnenes king of Cyprus, and strip him of his states. 
The duke of Austria, whom Richard insulted before the 
walls of Acre, swore eternal hatred against him. The re- 
conciliation of these princes was but a show ; and no sooner 
had the city fallen, after three years of siege and nine 
bloody battles, than Philip Augustus re-embarked for France 
(1191). 



CRUSADES BY SEA. 227 

204, Richard's exploits in Palestine. — Kingdom of Cy- 
prus. — Richard, now left alone, won the name of Lion-hearted, 
by exploits worthy of the heroes of romance. The Christians 
called him Alexander, Achilles, Judas Macchabee : no Sara- 
cen could stand before him. Once he advanced alone with 
his lance in hand towards seventy thousand Mussulmen, 
without one of them daring to accept the challenge. Paynim 
mothers used his name as a terror to their children. And 
yet all that he won by his prodigies of valor was a brilliant, 
but vain renown. His army, exhausted in combats that led 
to no results, was unable to take Jerusalem. He saw it, how- 
ever, from the heights of Emmaus ; and turning away with 
his eyes full of tears, exclaimed, " He is not worthy to see 
the holy wt^, who is not able to win it." He had offered 
S^dii^TO l|uit Syria, if he would restore him Jerusalem and 
th|; true cross. Saladin refused, and a council of twenty 
barons decided upon retreat. Richard re-embarked, after 
having concluded a simple truce, and obtained permission for 
Christian pilgrims to visit the holy places. Cast by a tem- 
pest, on his return, upon the territories of the duke of Aus- 
tria, the hero of Christendom fell into the hands of his bitterest 
enemy, and suffered all the sorrows of a sad and severe 
captivity. 

Richard had sold the kingdom of Cyprus to Guy of Lu- 
signan, the former king of Jerusalem, who relinquished all 
thoughts of the holy city. The title of king of Jerusalem 
was given to count Henry of Champagne ; and under the 
shelter of the revolutions which shook the whole of Asia, the 
family of Lusignan reigned three hundred years over the 
little kingdom of Cyprus. 



228 IMPOETANCE OF VENICE IN THE FOURTH CRUSADE. 



§ IV. 

IMPORTANCE OF VENICE IN THE FOURTH CRUSADE. FRANK 

EMPIRE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 

205. Fourth crusade diverted from its olject. — Taking of 
Constantinople. — These disasters began to diminish the zeal 
for the holy wars. Meanwhile, after Saladin's death, his 
brother Malek-Adel, as brave and as enterprising as he, 
threatened the last remains of the Christian kingdom in the 
East. An army of Germans and Hungarians (1195-1197) 
was sent into Palestine, and checked his progress for an in- 
stant : but a much greater effort was necessary. Innocent 
III., worthy successor of Gregory VII. and Urban If^tirpuaBd 
the ardor of the Christians and called all Europe to a new 
crusade, which was preached by Foulques of Neuilly. The 
lords of Champagne and Flanders took the cross under the 
orders of Boniface of Montferrat and Count Baldwin of Flan- 
ders. The Venetians were called to furnish vessels to trans- 
port them into Palestine. 

Already the original character of the crusades was 
changed. Religious enthusiasm, the sole spring of the two 
first, had given place to a romantic love of glory. Other 
motives, still less elevated, now began to appear, and ambi- 
tion and cupidity turned towards these distant expeditions as 
a source of aggrandizement or of gain. Venice, which was 
beginning to extend her commerce along the shores of the 
Mediterranean, and whose merchants longed for the rich 
products of the East, thought, when she saw the ambassa- 
dors of the crusaders come to ask the assistance of her fleets, 
that the moment had arrived in which her hopes were to be 
realized. Henry Dandolo, the doge, granted a fleet for an 
enormous sum, and the crusaders being unable to pay it, he 



IMPORTANCE OF VENICE IN THE FOURTH CRUSADE. 229 

offered to release them from their obligation, if they would 
help the republic retake the city of Zara, which had been 
seized by the king of Hungary. The crusade, thus diverted 
from its object by the policy of Venice, was destined never 
to attain it. In spite of the repeated remonstrances of Inno- 
cent III., the prayers of Isaac Angelus, emperor of Con- 
stantinople, whom his brother had dethroned and blinded 
(1202), the artful insinuations of the Venetians decided 
the crusaders to interfere in the affairs of the East. The 
Venetian ships appeared in the Bosphorus, and the two hun- 
dred thousand soldiers who defended the capital of the de- 
generate empire were unable to withstand the attack of the 
Franks (1203). The usurper was overthrown : Isaac, blind 
and a prisoner, was replaced upon the throne with his son 
Alexis, and the crusaders began at last to prepare for the 
invasion of the Holy Land. But the Greeks would not sub- 
mit to be governed by the emperor whom foreign arms had 
given them. The murder of Alexis by Ducas Murzuphlas 
called the Latins to vengeance, and Constantinople was taken 
after two assaults (1204). 

206. Latin empire of Constantinople. — Its decline and Jail. 
— The leaders of the conquerors divided the conquest. Bald- 
win, count of Flanders, was proclaimed emperor of the East : 
Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, king of Thessaly : the French 
Ville-Hardouin, sovereign of Achaia. The Venetians who 
had led the expedition, took for themselves the best part of 
the spoils. They obtained half of Constantinople, the Spo- 
rades, the Cyclades, the coasts of Propontis and the Euxine, 
the sea-coast of Thessaly, several cities on the Egean, &c. 

But all the possessions of the Greeks had not fallen with 
the capital. Theodore Lascaris founded the empire of Nice 
in Asia Minor (1205); Alexis and David Comnenes the prin- 
cipality of Trebizond : Michel Angela Comnenes had himself 
proclaimed king of Thessaly. They had not long to wait 



230 IMPOETANCE OF VENICE IN THE FOURTH CRUSADE. 

for the ruin of the Latin empire. The Genoese, rivals 
of the Venetians, lent their aid to the Greeks. Baldwin 
had hardly taken possession of Constantinople when his 
throne was shaken by successive reverses : and the Latin 
empire, after having struggled for fifty years against the 
Bulgarians and the Greeks of Nice, was overthrown under 
Baldwin II. by Michel Paleologos, who re-established the old 
Eastern Empire and became the founder of a new dynasty 
(1261). 

207. Efforts of Innocent III. to kindle the zeal of the holy 
wars. — Fifth crusade. — Meanwhile the Christians of the East 
had received no succor from the fourth crusade. Innocent 
in. raised once more that voice which he had so often raised 
in vain, and wondering Europe saw an army of children 
cross France (1212), and embark at Marseilles for the Holy 
Land. But many died of fatigue during the voyage, and 
the rest were taken by the Turks near St. John of Acre. 
Innocent, not yet discouraged, offered the tithe of his own 
revenues and of those of the cardinals, to repay the expenses 
of the expedition. At last the Christian princes consented to 
take up arms once more in defence of the holy places : but 
their efforts were unsuccessful, and these expeditions, no 
longer productive of any real results, ended not long after 
by the death on a foreign shore of the greatest sovereign of 
Europe. 

The fifth and sixth crusades began in Germany. Frede- 
ric II., at the urgent solicitation of his guardian, Innocent 
III., had consented to put himself at the head of the army 
of the crusaders. But Innocent died, and the emperor re- 
fusing to perform his promise, was replaced by Andrew II., 
king of Hungary, who was joined by John of Brienne, king 
of Jerusalem, and Hugh of Lusignan, king of Cyprus. The 
princes had hardly appeared before St. John of Acre, when 
Andrew returned home, and Hugh died suddenly. John, with- 



IMPORTANCE OF VENICE IN THE FOURTH CRUSADE. 231 

out being discouraged, carried the war into Egypt, according to 
the counsels of Innocent III., defeated the Mussulmen, and 
but for the obstinacy of the papal legate, Felagio, who would 
not consent to any treaty with infidels, would have recovered 
Jerusalem, which the sultan Malek-al-Kasnel offered to re- 
store. The inundation of the Nile reduced the crusaders to 
a disastrous retreat, and John, returning to Europe, gave Fre- 
deric the hand of his daughter Yoland, with all his claims to 
the kingdom of Jerusalem (1225). 

208. Sixth crusade. — Frederic II. — With this new motive 
to engage in the defence of the Holy Land, and at the same 
time solicited by the sultan Malek-al-Kasnel, who was me- 
naced by a serious revolt, Frederic appeared at last in Pales- 
tine (1228), although still under the ban of excommunication. 
He obtained the surrender of Jerusalem by a treaty with Al- 
Kasnel, consenting, however, to leave a mosque there for the 
convenience of the Mussulmen. This concession excited 
the liveliest indignation among the Templars and Hospital- 
lers who had fought for him. The bishop of Cesarea laid 
Jerusalem under interdict, forbidding pilgrims to enter it. 
But the emperor entered at the head of his barons, and caus- 
ed himself to be proclaimed king (1229), although no bishop 
could be found to place the crown upon his excommunicated 
head. At his approach, the priests veiled the sacred images 
of their temples, and the champion of the cross was every 
where denounced as the enemy of God. He took his ven- 
geance, by having the monks who preached against him pub- 
licly whipped, and returned from the crusade, leaving both 
Turks and Christians equally dissatisfied with the results of 
his expedition. 

209. Genghis-Khan. — Invasion of the East and of Europe 
hy the Moguls. — A terrible episode broke in for a moment 
upon the course of the crusades. While the little kingdom 
of Jerusalem, reduced to a few cities, was defending itself 



232 IMPORTANCE OF VENICE IN THE FOUKTH CEUSADE. 

with difficulty in a corner of Judea ; and the empire of the 
East, slipping from the grasp of the Latins, was about to re- 
turn to its ancient masters, a frightful convulsion shook Asia, 
and made Europe herself tremble at the swiftest and most for- 
midable invasion of which history has preserved the record. 
The nation of the Huns, which had sent forth Attila, gave 
him a worthy successor in Genghis- Khan. 

The Moguls, sprung from the Hunnish race, lived in insu- 
lated tribes in the immense plains of Asia. The young Te- 
moudgyn, chief of one of these tribes, at the age of thirteen 
succeeded in baffling the plots of his ambitious relations, and 
prepared the way by their punishment for the devastations by 
which he was to terrify the world. All the Tartars submit- 
ted to him voluntarily or by force, on the word of a hermit, 
who had given him the surname of Genghis-Ehan, and the 
Barbarian set out upon the conquest of the world at the head 
of the whole Mogul nation, who had sworn to follow him 
wherever he led (1206). He crossed the great wall of Chi- 
na, and penetrated as far as Pekin. Then leaving one of his 
generals to complete the conquest, he turned rapidly towards 
the west. The empire of the Kowaresmians, extending from 
the frontiers of Turkistan to those of India, attempted to stop 
his destructive march ; but he cut in pieces their army of 
four hundred thousand men, took their capital by assault, and 
entered the great naosque on horseback to tread the Koran 
under foot. The whole country to the Indus was changed 
into a desert. Already one of his sons had carried the terror 
of his arms into Russia, and founded the colony of the golden 
horde near the Caspian Sea. A thousand tributary princes 
sent their offerings to the resistless conqueror, whose empire, 
at his death (1227), extended over fifteen hundred leagues in 
length, and bore witness through the whole of this vast ex- 
tent to his passage of fire and blood. 

The invasion did not cease at his death : but this time it 



CRUSADES OF ST. LEWIS. 233 

fell upon Europe. Russia came first : Moscow, Vladimir, 
Kiev, were sacked by the Moguls, and all Russia soon sub- 
mitted to their dominion. The dissensions of the European 
powers, divided by the contest between the pontificate and the 
empire, favored the progress of the invaders. Poland was 
inundated by the torrent ; neither Bohemia nor Hungary 
could check these ferocious conquerors, who left ruin and 
ashes behind them. The duke of Silesia attempted to stand 
the shock. He was crushed with his army. Germany, and 
perhaps all Europe, seemed upon the point of falling a prey 
to these new Barbarians, when the death of the son of Gen- 
ghis-Khan deprived the Moguls of their chief, and they di- 
vided and returned to Asia. 



§ V. 

CRUSADES OF ST. LEWIS IN EGYPT AND AT TUNIS. 

210. Seventh crusade. — St. Lewis in Egypt. — The inva- 
sion of the Moguls had not reached Palestine. But it had 
driven back upon the Holy Land the ferocious tribe of Ko- 
waresm, which flying before its conquerors, spread every 
where it came the same devastations which it had left 
at home. With this aid the sultan of Egypt made himself 
master of Jerusalem (1244) and Damascus (1245). St. 
Lewis of France (Lewis IX.), (v. ch. xv. § i.), learnt with 
profound grief the desolation of the Holy Land, and swore to 
avenge the profanation of the holy sepulchre. In spite of the 
prayers and tears of his mother, Blanche of Castile, he took 
the cross and gave it to his three brothers, Robert of Artois, 
Alfonzo of Poictiers, and Charles of Anjou, to Joinville, the 
faithful and artless historian of the crusade, to most of his 
nobles, and to Marguerite of Provence herself, the worthy 



234 CRUSADES OF ST. LEWIS. 

wife of the gi'eatest and best of kings. Leaving the regency 
to his mother, he embarked at Aigues-Mortes (June, 1248), 
and after residing some time in Cyprus, arrived before Dami- 
etta. Impatient to reach the shore, he leapt into the sea 
where the water was up to his shoulders, marched directly 
towards the enemy, and took the town by assault. 

The sultan Malek-Saleh was already retreating : but the 
Christian army lost precious time at Damietta. At last they 
resumed their march and reached Mansowrah. Robert of 
Artois put to flight a body of the enemy's cavalry, and pur- 
suing them too far, was suri'ounded and killed (1250). This 
disastrous combat decided the fate of the campaign. To the 
valor of the knights, the Saracens opposed the terrible Greek 
fire, at the sight of which, says Joinville, the bravest fell 
upon their knees, crying on the Lord for mercy. Meanwhile 
pestilential miasma spread a rapid contagion through the 
army. Lewis resolved to retreat : but already the Nile was 
rising, and a numerous fleet lay in wait to cut him off. The 
exhausted French were surrounded and incessantly harassed 
by the Mussulmen. The noble devotion of the knights was 
of no avail. The intrepid Gaucher of Chatillon defended 
alone the entrance of a village in which Lewis had taken 
refuge, and fell at last, covered with wounds. The king, re- 
duced by disease and unable to hold his sword, was compelled 
to surrender with more than twenty thousand men. 

211. Captivity of St. Lewis. — His return to France. — 
This reverse brought out all the resignation and elevation 
of soul of the royal captive. Al-Mohad, Malek-Saleh's suc- 
cessor, demanded Damietta and a thousand golden byzants 
for his ransom. " A king of France never ransoms himself 
for money," said the king. " J will give Damietta for my 
own person, and will pay a thousand byzants for the liberty 
of my subjects." But as he was about to be set at liberty, a 
sudden revolution broke out. The Mamelukes, created by 



CRUSADES OF ST. LEWIS. 235 

Malek-Saleh, and who had in a short time become formidable 
to their masters, killed the sultan, and one of them, still 
covered with blood, ran to St. Lewis's tent, crying — " Make 
me a knight, or I will kill you." " Become a Christian and 
I will make you a knight," replied the king. The Barbarian, 
struck with admiration, retired without attempting to execute 
his threat. 

At last the Mamelukes restored St. Lewis to liberty, after 
having made him promise that he would not attempt any 
thing against Jerusalem. They declared that he was the 
proudest Christian they had ever seen. He was also the 
most faithful to his word. He went and passed four years in 
Palestine, visiting the places still inhabited by the Christians, 
and repairing the fortifications of their cities. He even made 
himself feared by the Old Man of the Mountain, chief of a 
tribe of fanatics who were devoted to him, and had killed 
more than one prince in the midst of his armies. The 
dagger of the Assassins did not frighten the great king, who 
replied by threats, and their prince hastened to send him 
magnificent presents, with a ring and a shirt, and to solicit 
his friendship and alliance. At last, the death of Queen 
Blanche, in 1254, recalled him to France. 

212. Invasion of Palestine hy the Mamelukes. — His de- 
parture left the Christians of the East without a protector, 
and surrounded by enemies. The Moguls, led by the fero- 
cious Houlagou, ravaged the west of Asia, and after having 
destroyed the sect of the Assassins, at the prayer of the ca- 
liph of Bagdad, dethroned the caliph himself. The Mame- 
lukes had proclaimed one of their own chiefs, Bibars Bondo- 
char, the murderer of the sultan of Egypt. This cruel 
enemy of the Christians invaded Palestine, massacring 
every one that refused to embrace Islamism, and writing to 
the prince of Antioch — " Death has come by every path. 
If thou hadst seen thy knights crushed under the feet of 



236 CRUSADES OF ST. LEWIS. 

horses, thy provinces pillaged, women sold at auction, pulpits 
and crosses overthrown, the pages of the Gospel scattered to 
the wind, monk, priest, and deacon slaughtered, and their 
bones devoured by the fire of this world, thou wouldst have 
cried out : Would to heaven that I were dust." Cesarea, 
Tyre, and Jaffa were completely destroyed. A desolation 
like that had never fallen on Palestine, 

213. Eighth crusade. — Death of St. Lewis. — Destruction 
of the Christian power in the East. — At this news, St. Lewis, 
forgetting the bad success of his first expedition, and thinking 
only of the afflictions of the church, took the cross and had 
a crusade preached throughout his kingdom. But a dead 
silence was the only reply to his appeal. Still he set forth, 
hurried too by the ambition of his brother Charles of Anjou, 
who saw nothing but new conquests in these holy expedi- 
tions. 

By his selfish advice, St. Lewis directed his course 
towards that part of Africa which lies nearest to Sicily 
(1270). The king of Tunis, summoned to receive baptism, 
replied that he would come for it at the head of a hundred 
thousand men. But Charles of Anjou was not yet arrived, 
and the king awaited his coming to begin the war. 

Meanwhile a contagious disease broke out among the 
troops. St. Lewis, after having bestowed every care upon 
those around him, was struck himself by the scourge, and 
died like a hero and a saint, on the 25th of August, 1270. 
At last Charles arrived, raised the courage of the soldiers, 
imposed a peace upon the king of Tunis, and brought back 
the remnants of the army to Europe. Prince Edward of 
England, who had taken the cross at the same time, went to 
the succor of the Christians of the East (1275) ; but his 
presence only served to retard the fall of St. John of Acre, 
the last asylum of Christianity in Asia. This city, which 
had remained alone in the midst of so many ruins, fell under 



GENERAL RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES. 237 

the efforts of two hundred thousand Saracens (1291). All 
was now over. The orders of knights themselves abandoned 
Asia. The Templars were about to be destroyed. The 
Hospitallers removed, though somewhat later, to the island 
of Rhodes: the Teutonic knights established themselves in 
the north of Germany, in a country half pagan, where they 
could still fight against unbelievers. 



§ VI. 

GENERAL RESULTS OF THE CRUSABES POLITICAL, COMMERCIAL, 

INDUSTRIAL, LITERARY. 

214. Political results of the crusades. — Weakening of 
feudalism. — Chivalry. — Christendom had not spent in vain 
its treasures and its blood in the holy wars. Its immense 
sacrifices were repaid by immense results, and the evils 
which these great expeditions necessarily brought with them 
were more than compensated by the advantages which they 
procured to the whole of Europe. 

The crusades saved Europe from the Mussulman inva- 
sion, and this was their immediate good. Their influence 
was felt, too, in a manner less direct, but no less useful. 
The crusades had been preached by a religion of equality in 
a society divided by odious distinctions. All had taken part 
in them, the weak as well as the strong, the serf and the ba- 
ron, man and woman, and it was by them that the equality 
of man and woman, which Christianity taught, was made a 
social fact. St. Lewis declared that he could do nothing 
without the consent of the queen, his wife. It was from this 
period that we must date that influence of woman which gave 
rise to chivalric courtesy, the first step towards refinement 
of manners and civilization. The poor, too, were the adopt- 



238 GENERAL RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES. 

ed children of the Christian chivalry of the crusades. The 
celebrated orders of Palestine were instituted for the protec- 
tion of poor pilgrims. The knights of the hospital called 
the poor their masters. Surely no lesson was more needed 
by those proud barons of the middle ages than that of charity 
and humility. 

These ideas were the first to shake the stern despotism 
of feudality, by opposing to it the generous principles of chi- 
valry, which sprang all armed from the crusades. Bound 
to the military orders by a solemn vow, and for the interests 
of all Christendom, the knight felt himself free from feudal 
dependence, and raised above national limits, as the immedi- 
ate warrior and servant of united Christendom and of God. 
Chivalry, founded not upon territorial influence, but upon 
personal distinction, necessarily weakened nobility by ren- 
dering it accessible to all, and diminishing the interval which 
separated the different classes of society. Every warrior 
who had distinguished himself by his valor, could kneel be- 
fore the king to be dubbed a knight, and rise up the equal, 
the superior even, of powerful vassals. The poorest knight 
could sit at the king's table, while the noble son of a duke 
or prince was excluded, unless he had won the golden spurs 
of knighthood. Another way by which the crusades con- 
tributed to the decay of feudalism was by favoring the en- 
franchisement of serfs, even without the consent of their 
masters. Whoever took the cross became free, just as every 
slave becomes free on touching the soil of England or France. 

215. Extension of the royal poxver. — Nations and people 
drawn nearer together. — The communities whose development 
is to be referred to the period of the crusades, multiplied ra- 
pidly ; the nobles gladly granting charters and privileges in 
exchange for men and money. With the communities the 
royal power grew, and that of the aristocracy decreased. 
The royal domain was enlarged, by the escheating of a great 



GENERAL RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES. 239 

number of fiefs which had been left vacant by the death of 
tlieir lords. The kings protected the communities, favored 
their enfranchisement, and employed them usefully against 
insubordinate vassals. The extension of the royal power 
favored the organization of the nation, by establishing a prin- 
ciple of unity : for till then, and with that multitude of mas- 
ters, the nation had been little else than an agglomeration of 
provinces, strangers to one another, and destitute of any com- 
mon bond or common interest. The great vassals themselves, 
often united under the royal banner, became accustomed du- 
ring these distant expeditions to submission and discipline, 
and learned to recognize a legitimate authority ; and if they 
lost by this submission a part of their personal power, they 
gained in compensation the honorable distinctions of chivalry. 

But it was not the national feeling alone which was fostered 
by the crusades. Relations of fraternity, till then wholly 
unknown, grew up between different nations, and softened 
the deep-rooted antipathy of races. The knights, whom a 
common object united in common dangers, became brothers 
of arms, and formed permanent ties of friendship. That 
barbarous law which gave the feudal lord a right to call 
every man his serf who settled in his domains, was softened. 
Stranger and enemy ceased to be synonymous, and " the 
crusaders," say the chronicles of the times, " although di- 
vided by language, seemed to form only one people, by their 
love for God and their neighbor." And without coloring the 
picture too warmly, and making all due allowance for the 
exaggerations which were so natural to the first recorders 
of such a movement, we may say that human society was 
founded and united, and Europe began to pass from the pain- 
ful period of organization, to one of fuller and more rapid 
development. 

216. Commercial, industrial, and literary results. — Europe 
was indebted to the crusades also for that material prosperity 



240 GENERAL RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES. 

which was the natural consequence of the rapid impulse 
which they gave to industry and commerce. It was in the 
midst of these great expeditions that the maritime power of 
Venice, Genoa, and Pisa were developed. The rest of Eu- 
rope followed the movement, and the Hanseatic league (v. ch. 
xiii. § ii.) was formed for the commerce of the north. Then 
Europe began to profit by the productions of distant coun- 
tries : gathering precious plants for agriculture and medicine : 
the sugar-cane, maize, and the mulberry. The manufactur- 
ing cities strove to imitate the stuffs of Asia, the excellent 
tempering of its arms, and its industrial products. 

This opening of communications, and exchange of arts 
contributed greatly to the diffusion of knowledge. Mogul 
ambassadors came to France ; and an attempt was made to 
found a course of Tartar languages in Paris. Poetry was 
developed in the songs of the Troubadours, enthusiastic re- 
corders of the wonderful exploits which they witnessed. The 
medical and mathematical sciences profited by the discoveries 
of the Arabs, and geography was enlarged by more accu- 
rate ideas concerning countries hitherto hardly known. 

The church too profited largely by the immense influence 
which the crusades naturally gave to the Holy See, at whose 
instigation they began. The period was not yet passed when 
monasteries and religious corporations could render great 
services to literature and to the weak and oppressed. The 
number of these institutions was multiplied, and with them 
the benefits which they could still confer upon society 



CHAPTER XIII. 

GEKMAJSnr FEOM THE THIRTEENTH TO THE ITF- 
TEENTH CENTUKT. 



SUMMARY. 

§ I. State of Germany at the death of Frederic II. — Great inter- 
regnum. — William of Holland. — Conrad IV. — Alphonso of Castile, and 
Richard of Cornwall. — Rudolph of Hapsburg. — Beginning of the house 
of Austria. — Decay of the imperial power after the death of Rudolph. — 
Adolphus of Nassau. — Albert I. of Austria. — Insurrection of Helvetia. — 
Henry VII. of Luxemburg. — Expedition into Italy. — Frederic the Hand- 
some of Austria. — Lewis of Bavaria. — Triumph of Lewis of Bavaria, 
who is excommunicated by the pope. — Revolt of Charles of Bohemia. — 
Corruption and weakness of the government. — Diminution of the do- 
mains of the empire. — Vincislaus : his deposition. — Robert III. of Bava- 
ria. — Sigismund of Luxemburg. — John Huss. — Religious and political 
troubles. — Albert II. of Austria. — Frederic III. 

§ II. Constitution of the empire in the thirteenth century. — The 
electors. — Associations of cities. — Hanseatic league: league of the 
Rhine, &c. — Pragmatic of Frankfort. — Golden bull. — Vain efforts of the 
emperor to establish the public peace. — Diet of Nuremberg. 

§ III. Oppression of Helvetia. — Conspiracy of Rutli. — William Tell. 
— Formation of the Helvetic league. — War against Albert I. — Battle 
of Morgarten. — Progress of the Swiss confederation. — Battle of Sim,' 
pack. — Self-devotion of Wirikelried — Truce of Zurich, 

u 



242 GERMANY FROM FREDERIC II. TO FREDERIC III. 



§1. 



HISTORY OF GERMANY FROM THE DEATH OF FREDERIC II. TO 
THE CORONATION OF FREDERIC III. 

217, State of Germany after Frederic II. — Great inter- 
regnum. — After the death of Frederic II. (1250) began a 
period of dissolution. The long contest between the priest- 
hood and the empire had broken all the harmony of the Ger- 
man states. The people who had been divided so many- 
years by incessant quarrels, now separated from one another 
and resumed their independence. It was every where war. 
" The ploughshare," says an old historian, " was changed 
into swords ; the sickle into lances. No one went without 
his tinder-box and flint, so as to be always ready to throw 
fire and flame every where." Germany seemed to have 
gone back to the times which had followed the dissolution 
of the Carolingian empire. The imperial power, impotent 
in the midst of such disorders, made useless efforts to estab- 
lish peace and unity. This epoch is known, in German 
hiatory, as the great interregnum. 

While William of Holland, instigated by Innocent IV,, 
during the last years of Frederic II. (1247) retained the 
crown without knowing how to make it respected, Conrad 
IV., Frederic's son (1250-1254), was establishing himself 
with difficulty in Italy and vainly attempting to regain his 
hereditary states. After the death of these two princes, two 
strangers — Alplwnso, of Castile, and Richard of Cornwall — con- 
tended by money for the suffi-ages of the diet, which rejected 
the pretensions of the ambitious Ottokar, king of Bohemia. 
It required a man of character firm enough to extricate the 
empire from the anarchy of the long interregnum ; and yet 
of too little power to excite the jealousy of the electors. 



GERMANY FROM FREDERIC II. TO FREDERIC III. 243 

Count Rudolph of Hapsbui'g united these conditions, and ob- 
tained the suffirages of the diet, without having solicited 
them (1273). The year following, he was solemnly recog- 
nized by the pope at the council of Lyons. 

218. Rudolph of Hapsburg. — Rudolph surpassed the ex- 
pectations of the great feudal lords, and displayed an activity 
and a genius which no one had supposed him to possess. 
Alphonso, who had survived his rival Richard, was compelled 
to recognize the new emperor. Ottokar, placed under the 
ban of the empire for having refused to do homage, lost Aus- 
tria in a first war (1276) ; and was conquered and killed in 
a second, in spite of the succors of the kings of Poland and 
Bulgaria (1278). The conqueror left his son Vincislaus 
nothing but Bohemia and Moravia, causing the vacant fiefs 
of Austria to be given to two of his own sons (1282). Soon 
after, he united them in the hands of his eldest son Albert, 
whom he hoped to raise to the empire. Suabia and Bui*- 
gundy were to form the appanage of the youngest. But the 
progress of the imperial power, and Rudolph's manifest inten- 
tion of recovering the ancient domains of the crown, alarmed 
the vassals. A league was formed to oppose his projects, 
and he died soon after (1291) — after having vainly attempted 
to get possession of Hungary, and have his son elected king 
of the Romans. 

219. Adolphus of Nassau. — Albert of Austria. — The 
electors, wearied by Rudolph's energetic severity, hastened 
to give the crown to the obscure Adolphus of Nassau (1292). 
But this prince attempted to extend his family domains, sword 
in hand, and ravaged half Germany. The indignant elec- 
tors cried out that they had still other kings under their man- 
tles. The diet of Mayence gave the crown to Rudolph's 
son, and he killed his rival in the very first battle (1298). 
Albert I. of Austria, to give a new sanction to his authority, 
had himself elected a second time, and crowned at Aix-la- 



244 GERMANY FROM FREDERIC II. TO FREDERIC III. 

Chapelle. Pope Boniface VIII. alone refused to recognize 
him, and receiving Albert's deputies with a crown on his 
head and a sword at his side, assumed the title of vicar-general 
of the empire, and ordered the princes to proceed to a new 
election. But Albert, confident of the support of the elec- 
tors and of the imperial cities of the lower Rhine, swore that 
he would keep his throne ; and the pope, distracted by his 
disputes with Philip the Fair, king of France (v. ch, xv. 
§ i.), withdrew his opposition. 

The ambitious emperor wished to secure for his family 
the^ thrones of Hungary and Bohemia, after the death of An- 
drew III., and Vincislaus V,, his successor (1306). Failing in 
this double aim, he attempted with like success to seize upon 
Holland, Suabia, and Thuringia (1307), but was at last com- 
pelled to abandon all these projects of conquest in order to meet 
a revolt which threatened him with the loss of his own do- 
mains. The cruelty of Gessler, intendant of the empire, 
had stirred up a revolt among the inhabitants of Helvetia 
(v. § iii.). Albert marched against them, accompanied by 
John of Suabia, his nephew and ward, whose inheritance he 
had invaded. This young prince, but fourteen years old, 
formed a conspiracy against his faithless guardian, and Al- 
bert was assassinated in crossing the Reuss, within sight of 
the castle of Hapsburg. The vengeance of this death was 
terrible. John, the parricide, proscribed in spite of the pope's 
absolution, died a captive, and more than a thousand victims 
were sacrificed to the fury of Albert's relations. 

220. Henry VII. — Contest between Frederic the Hand- 
some and Lewis of Bavaria. — The imperial sceptre slipped 
for a second time from the house of Hapsburg. Henry VII. 
of Luxemburg was elected, to the exclusion of Albert's son, 
Frederic the Handsome (1308). A few years afterwards, 
the states of Bohemia offered the crown to John, the new 
emperor's son. But Henry, more ambitious than Albert, 



GERMANY FROM FREDERIC II. TO FREDERIC III. 245 

even, for the aggrandizement of his family, was anxious to 
enforce the disastrous pretensions upon Italy, which his pre- 
decessors had had the prudence to drop. He died beyond 
the Alps, without having been able to calm the endless quar- 
rel of th^ Guelphs and Ghibellines (1313). 

After his death, Frederic the Handsome, duke of Austria, 
succeeded in obtaining the votes of part of the electoi's : 
others preferred Lewis of Bavaria (1314). A war broke out 
between the rivals. Lewis had recognized the independence 
of the Swiss cantons, who declared in his favor. An army 
which Frederic sent against them, was destroyed at Mor- 
garten (v. § iii.), and the duke of Austria himself, who had 
invaded Bavaria, was defeated and taken at the battle of 
MuhldorfF(1322). But Pope John XXII. hurled against the 
conqueror a bull of excommunication, and cited him to ap- 
pear before him within three months, at the expiration of 
which he declared his throne forfeit (1324). To disarm the 
pope, Lewis released his rival, and consented to share with 
him the imperial dignity. 

Still after Frederic's death (1330), the pope set up 
Charles of France against him, and excommunicated him 
for having had himself crowned at Rome by the prefect 
Colonna. Lewis wished to abdicate, to restore peace; but 
the electors compelled him to maintain the contest to the end. 
To the anathemas of Benedict XII., the German diet replied 
by the pragmatic sanction of Frankfort (1338), which de- 
clared the election of king or emperor legitimate indepen- 
dently of the papal investiture. Lewis's reign was none the 
more tranquil. John of Bohemia, who had long been his 
eneiny, succeeded in obtaining for his son Charles the sup- 
port of Pope Clement VI., who hurled new anathemas against 
the emperor (1346) ; and Lewis died just as the electors had 
declared the imperial throne vacant (1347). 

221. Reign of Charles IV. — Weakness of the govern- 



246 GERMANY FROM FREDERIC II. TO FREDERIC III. 

merit. — A sport of all the exactions of the nobles and slave of 
the pope, Charles IV. of Bohemia (1347-1378) bought the 
suffrages of the diet by lavishing the dignities of the empire ; 
and obtained the second coronation at Rome by promising to 
remain but one day in the city, never to return there* without 
the pope's permission, and to recognize the suzerainty of the 
Holy See (1355). 

This reign was a sad period of debasement and humilia- 
tion for the empire. Corruption and intrigue, supplied the 
place of firmness and talent ; and the emperor filled his ex- 
hausted treasury by alienating for money the imperial fiefs 
and domains'; '--The cession of the Venaissin county to the 
Holy See, was- solemnly confirmed. Dauphiny was with- 
drawn fz'om^- the "suzerainty of the empire, and given to the 
son of the king of France. In Helvetia, several cities joined 
the new confederation (v. § iii.). Beyond the Alps, the em- 
peror himself confirmed the independence of the pontifical 
territories and of several cities of Lombardy. In Germany, 
he published the famous golden-bull (v. § xi.), which gave 
the imperial confirmation to rights and privileges which the 
great vassals had already usurped (1256). The only thing 
in which he succeeded, was in enlarging the domains of his 
own family at the expense of the empire. He had already 
incorporated Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia, and Brandenburg; 
and obtained the title of king of the Romans for his son Vin- 
ceslaus, when he died, in the year 1378. 

222. Vinceslaus. — Robert III. — Period of decay. — Never 
had an empire been more divided, or a power more debased, 
than that of Germany at the moment in which Vinceslaus as- 
cended the throne (1378-1400). The son of Charles IV. 
did not even attempt to restore the grandeur and energy of 
the imperial dignity. Confined to his kingdom of Bohemia, 
where alone he could wield an undisputed authority, he only 
appeared at the diet of Nuremberg to witness, like an indif- 



GEBMANY FROM FREDERIC II. TO FREDERIC III. 247 

ferent spectator, the dissensions between his haughty vassals, 
and the cities leagued in Suabia and on the Rhine for the 
defence of their liberty. He allowed the nobles to revive 
the old brotherhoods of St. George, and of the Lion against 
the commons, now rich and powerful ; and contented him- 
self with publishing a public peace, of which he knew not 
how to enforce the observance (1383). Neither was his in- 
dolence moved by the news of the great victory of the Swiss, 
at Sempach (1386). At last his Bohemian subjects rose, and 
cast him into prison ; and the electors, setting him aside as 
useless, named Robert III. of Bavaria in his place (1400). 
This prince made an unfortunate expedition into Italy, and 
returned to close in Germany an inglorious reign (1410). 

223. Sigismund of Luxemburg. — Religious and political 
troubles. — Albert II. of Austria. — Sigismund of Luxemburg, 
already king of Hungary — and heir to the throne of Bohemia 
still filled by his brother Vinceslaus, the deposed emperor — 
seemed capable of reviving the dignity of the empire ; but 
religious dissensions and the attacks of the Turks, paralyzed 
all his efforts. John Huss, professor in the University of 
Prague, had preached against the corruptions of the clergy, 
and with his disciple, Jerome of Prague, revived the doctrines 
of WiclifF, which the church had condemned as heretical. 
He .was condemned by the council of Constance, and perished 
at the stake in spite of the imperial safe conduct which Sigis- 
mund had not the courage — perhaps not the strength — to en- 
force (1415). The next year, Jei'ome met the same fate, after 
having lingered in a painful captivity. Huss was of a mild 
and gentle spirit ; but the retaliations which his disciples 
took for his death, were so fearful that Vinceslaus is said to 
have died of terror at them (1419). Several sects, whom a 
common hatred for the Catholics united — the Adamites, Ore- 
bites, and Orphans — declared war against the emperor. The 
Taborites, the most enthusiastic, overran Austria, Bohemia, 



248 CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 

and Bavaria ; plundering the monastaries ; torturing the 
priests ; sacking the possessions of the Catholics, and pro- 
claiming that the new kingdom of God would begin when all 
the cities of the earth should be burnt and reduced to fire. 
All Sigismund's efforts to resist them, were vain. At sight 
of them, an army of eighty thousand men fled in the utmost 
disorder ; and it was only by confirming all the concessions 
that had been made them, that a momentary suspension of 
hostilities could be obtained. 

With Sigismund, ended the house of Luxemburg (1437). 
A new epoch — an epoch of organization and regular adminis- 
tration — began with the house of Austria, which, with Albert 
II., obtained uninterrupted possession of the imperial throne. 
Albert united Sigismund's three crowns, Austria, Hun- 
gary, and Bohemia. His talents and virtues promised a 
glorious and prosperous reign, which was cut short by early 
death only two years after his accession, and on his return 
from an expedition against the Turks (1439). Frederic III. 
(1440-1493) succeeded him, and received the crown from 
the hands of Nicholas V. He was the last emperor that 
asked for this sanction from the pontifical power. 



§ II. 

CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE DURING THIS 
PERIOD OF THE HISTORY OF GERMANY. 

224. Constitution of the empire in the thirteenth century, — 
The changes introduced into the constitution of the Germanic 
empire during this period, were fatal blows to the imperial 
power and to the unity of Germany. Frederic II., by re- 
nouncing the .supreme jurisdiction of the emperors in the 
domains of the ecclesiastical princes (1220) and ten years 



CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 249 

later of the secular (1230), had confirmed their absolute in- 
dependence. The ruin and parcelling out of the ancient 
duchies of Suabia, Franconia, Saxony, and Bavaria, gave 
rise to a crowd of petty sovereignties, which divided the 
power of the state and exposed it to every sort of disorder. 
The most powerful countries, Denmai'k, Hungary, Poland, 
with a part of Burgundy and Lombardy, renounced the im- 
perial suzerainty. Among those which remained attached 
to the empire, seven seized exclusively upon the right of 
election, which, till then, had belonged to a larger number 
of vassals, and formed the electoral college. The other 
princes and barons, reduced to a simple right of confirma- 
tion, sought a compensation by exercising on their own do- 
mains an uncontrolled despotism over the inferior nobility, 
who found in chivalry but a faint image of the old German 
liberty, and the commons of the cities, whose revenues fed 
the treasury of their lords. 

225. Associations of cities — Hanseatic league. — League 
of the Rhine. — But a great number of these cities, proud of 
their numerous population and the wealth acquired by a 
flourishing commerce, rejected the onerous protection of the 
vassals, as well as the vain supremacy of the emperor. The 
commons, contending with princes, counts, and knights, 
jealous of their prosperity, transformed their industrial corpo- 
rations into warlike associations. Each city had within its 
walls a crowd of valiant defenders ; and separate cities soon 
began to unite together, for the mutual protection of their 
liberty. In 1241, a commercial compact between Lubeck 
and Hamburg was the origin of that famous Hanseatic league 
(or Hanse-Teutonic), which in 1300 comprised sixty cities 
from the Lower Rhine to the Baltic ; and in the middle of 
the fourteenth century had factories at Novogorod, Stock- 
holm, London, and Lisbon, and had become a redoubtable 
political power (v. Mod. Hist., ch. viii., § iii.). In 1254, 

11* 



250 CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 

sixty cities in the south of Germany formed a league also 
against the oppression of the nobles, under the name of 
League of the Rhine. Soon the inferior nobility of Suabia, 
imitating the example of the commons, formed a confedera- 
tion to escape from the despotism of the great vassals ; and 
allied themselves, in the fourteenth century, with the cities 
of that province (1380). 

226. Increase of the power of the great vassals at the ex- 
pense of the imperial power. — Golden lull. — The imperial 
power, whose impotence was the cause of all these associa- 
tions, had recovered some energy under Rudolph, who re- 
claimed the rights usurped by the vassals ; and reduced 
them to obedience by destroying those castles, whose pic- 
turesque ruins still adorn the Black Forest and the moun- 
tains on the banks of the Rhine. But anarchy returned at 
his death. If the diet of Frankfort (1338) solemnly pro- 
claimed the independence of the empire with regard to the 
Holy See (v. § i.), Lewis of Bavaria gave a new blow to the 
unity of the imperial government, by ordering the judges 
to follow the laws of each province ; and increasing their 
number himself by publishing a special code for Upper 
Bavaria. 

Under Charles IV., the golden hill (1356) — so called 
from the golden seal affixed to it — sanctioned all the rights 
and privileges which the great vassals had usurped. It con- 
firms the exclusive right of election to seven princes, the 
archbishop of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne ; the king of 
Bohemia ; the count Palatine of the Rhine ; the duke of 
Saxony, and the margrave of Brandenburg. Austria had no 
vote, but contented herself with taking the empire for her 
patrimony. The golden bull exempts the electoral domains 
from the imperial jurisdiction; gives the 'electors regalian 
rights over mines, the coins, and taxation ; insures their pre- 
eminence over all the other princes, and makes it treason 



CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE. 251 

to attempt any thing against their privileges. The electors 
are called the fundamental -columns, the seven torches of the 
empire ; and the electoral dignity is raised almost to a level 
with the imperial. 

227. Efforts of the emperors to re-estahUsh the public peace. 
— The golden bull contained also some provisions concerning 
private wars, and the establishment of the public peace — 
the only articles which were not sincerely kept. It was in 
vain that the successors of Charles IV., Vinceslaus and Sigis- 
mund, raised their voices to forbid the bloody quai'rels which 
desolated Germany, and proposed a regular organization of 
the states of the empire. The states, jealous of whatever 
bore the semblance of imperial supremacy, chose to de- 
pend upon their own strength to obtain justice, or defend 
their usurpations. The princes, too, without troubling them- 
selves about the sanction of the emperor, established rules 
of general administration, without securing the execution of 
them by the guarantee of any superior power. A new period 
of anarchy was required to make these haughty vassals feel 
the need of order and general tranquillity. At last, the con- 
ciliating words of the wise emperor Albert II. were favorably 
received at the diet of Nuremberg, in which all the provi- 
sions of the golden bull for the public peace were renewed. 
The division of Germany into six circles under the presi- 
dence of a director, or captain general, and the re-establish- 
ment of the appeal to the tribunal of the emperor, were to 
secure the execution of the statutes of Nuremberg and fortify 
the supreme power (1438). But the new troubles of Ger- 
many under the feeble Frederic III., and his inability to re- 
sist the attempts of even the weakest vassals (Mod. Hist., ch. 
vii.), soon showed that the emperors were still to confine 
their pretensions to a ratification of the encroachments of the 
nobles. All Frederic's efibrts resulted in making regula- 
tions for private wars. 



252 FORMATION OF THE HELVETIC LEAGUE. 

§IIL 

FORMATION OF THE HELVETIC LEAGUE. 

228. Oppression of Helvetia. — Conspiracy of Ruili. — 
William Tell. — While Germany was thus sinking with rapid 
decay, a great political revolution was accomplished in a 
corner of Europe. Helvetia broke away from the empire, 
and won her freedom and nationality by the heroism of a 
few mountaineers. Subjected, since Charlemagne, to the 
imperial supremacy, Helvetia was divided into a great num- 
ber of immediate fiefs — four imperial cities, and three called 
forest cities Uri, Schwitz, and Unterwalden. Albert of 
Austria, always goaded by the ambition of aggrandizing his 
family, proposed to these cities to renounce their privileges 
and put themselves under the direct protection of Austria. 
All three refused : and the irritated prince charged the in- 
tendants of the lands which he held in their neighborhood, to 
enforce their rights with the gi'eatest rigor, to embarrass the 
commerce of the cities, and tyrannize to the utmost over the 
inhabitants of the country. 

The proud mountaineers did not submit long to this 
odious oppression. Thi'ee men, devoted to liberty — Werner 
Staufacher, of Schwitz ; Walter Furst, of Uri ; and Arnold 
of Melchtal, whose father, an inhabitant of Uri, had just been 
blinded by the Austrian intendant — united for the indepen- 
dence of their country. They held their meetings by night 
on the rocks of Uri, and excited their friends to join with 
them in this bold enterprise ; and thirty-three pledged them- 
selves, in the name of the God who heard them, to defend with 
their latest breath the holy cause of freedom. Such was 
the origin of the Swiss confederacy. 

One of the conspirators, William Tell, of the canton of 



FORMATION OF THE HELVETIC LEAGUE. 253 

Uri, gave the signal of revolt. It is said that Gessler, in- 
tendant of the empire, had set up his hat in the square of Al- 
torfF, and commanded every body to do homage to this emblem 
of his power. Tell, who refused to comply, was condemned 
to be put to death, unless he could strike off with an arrow an 
apple from the head of his son. He did it: but the intendant 
resolved to crush this bold spirit ; had him chained, and 
taking him in his boat, attempted to conduct him himself to 
the fortress, where he meant to confine him. A violent tem- 
pest arose, and the affi'ighted boatmen were unable to hold 
their way among the rocks. Tell was unchained, and in- 
trusted with the helm. He steered for the shore, and, leaping 
upon it, pushed the boat back among the waves. The boat- 
men, left to themselves, struggled manfully for their lives, 
and succeeded at last in reaching the shore. Tell watched 
them from the bank, and shot the tyrant as he landed. 

229. Contest between the Swiss and Albert I. — Formation 
of the Helvetic league. — Already by June, 1308, several 
castles had fallen into the hands of the insurgents, whose 
number had rapidly increased. Albert marched against 
them, but was assassinated at the passage of the Reuss 
(v. § i.). His son, Frederic the Handsome, was an equally 
implacable enemy of the Swiss ; and after having avenged 
his father's death by two bloody battles, he sent his brother 
Leopold to wage against them a war of extermination. 
Leopold appeared among the mountains with a band of illus- 
trious knights, and cords to bind the chiefs of those vile 
peasants, whom he threatened to crush under his feet. The 
fearless confederates called first on Heaven for protection, 
and then, by the advice of an old man, took their stand in 
the defile of Morgarten. Thirteen hundred men, with no- 
thing but halberts for arms, awaited the approach of Leo- 
pold's numerous arniy and mail-clad knights. An hour and 
a half decided the fate of Swiss freedom. Showers of stones. 



254 FORBIATION OF THE HELVETIC LEAGUE. 

hurled down from the heights, crushed the Austrians as they 
vainly endeavored to force their way through the pass ; and 
the knights, struck down from their horses, were killed by 
the blows of the halbert. The victors swore a perpetual 
league, which was soon approved by Lewis of Bavaria ; and 
the whole country took the name of the canton in which the 
victory had been won — (Schwitz — Switzerland) (1315). 

230. Progress of the confederation. — Battle of SempacJi. 
— Truce of Zurich. — Thenceforth, the confederation grew 
rapidly. From 1332 to 1353, it was successively joined by 
the cantons of Lucerne, Zurich, Glaris, Zug, and Berne. A 
new war with Austria, insured its independence. The Aus- 
trians had established on the principal road to Lucerne, a 
toll, to which the young men of the city refused to submit. 
Leopold, duke of Austria, seized upon this pretext to invade 
Argovia. His army of four thousand knights and a strong 
body of footmen, met fourteen hundred soldiers of the con- 
federation, near Sempach. The intrepid charge of the Hel- 
vetians was vain against the iron battalions of the enemy. 
Many had already fallen, when Arnold of Winkelried sprang 
forward, crying — " Friends, I intrust my wife and children 
to you ;" and then seizing the points of several lances with 
both his hands, dragged down the soldiers in his fall. The 
Swiss broke fiercely into the breach, and breaking helmet 
and curiass with their heavy swords, put the Austrians to 
flight (1386). The battle of Nafels, won by the inhabitants 
of Glaris, soon followed ; and these two great victories pre- 
pared the way for the truce of Zurich (1389), by which 
Albert IIL of Austria recognized the rights of the Helvetic 
confederacy. 

A few years afterwards (1411), the eight cantons were 
joined by the city of Appenzel ; and in the following cen- 
tury, their number rose to thirteen (v. Mod. Hist.). 



CHAPTER XIY. 

ITALY FEOM THE THIRTEENTH TO THE FIFTEENTH 
CENTURY. 



SUMMARY. 



§ I. Decline of the political power of the popes. — Contests of the 
Guelphs and Ghibellines. — Corradino and Manfred. — Charles of Anjou, 
in Italy. — Death of Manfred and Corradino. — Ambitious projects of 
Charles of Anjou. — Sicilian vespers. — Separation of Sicily and Naples. 
— Rivalry between the houses of Anjou and Aragon. 

§ II. Maritime power of Venice. — Influence of the fall of the Latin 
empire upon the destinies of Venice. — Political revolution. — Abolition 
of the democracy. — The Great Council. — Closing of the Great Council. 
— Council of Ten. — Rivalry of Pisa and Genoa. — Decline of Pisa. — 
Triumph of her rival. 

§ III. Relations between Clement V. and Philip the Fair. — Re- 
moval of the Holy See to Avignon. — John XXII. — Clement VI. — 
Cola di Rienzi tribune at Rome. — His power and his fall. — Return of the 
popes to Rome, after a residence of seventy years at Avignon. 

§ IV. Double election of Urban VI. and Clement III. — Benedict 
XIII. and Gregory XII. — Council of Pisa. — Alexander VI. — Council of 
Constance. — John XXIII. — Condemnation of John Huss. — Deposition 
of three popes. — Martin V. — Vain attempts at reform. — Council of Basle. 
— Temporary reunion of the Greek church. 

§ V. Sovereign houses of Italy. — Family of the Visconti at Milan. — 
Contest of the Lombard cities against Milan. — Bernabo Visconti. — John 
Galeazzo. — The Condottieri. — Francis Sforza. — State of Lombardy. — 
House of Savoy 



256 ITALY AFTER THE DEATH OF FREDERIC II. 

§ VI. State of Tuscany. — The contest between the Guelphs and Ghi- 
bellines continues. — Exploits of Castruccio. — Rivalry between the Neri 
and Bianchi, at Florence. — Plague at Florence. — Beginning of the house 
of Medici. — Silvestro. — John, Father of the people. — Cosimo, Father of 
his country. 

§ VII. Respective positions of Venice and Genoa. — Rupture between 
the two republics. — Conspiracy of Marino Faliero. — Success of Genoa. — 
War of Chiozza. — Venice saved by Pisani. — Success of the Venetians. — 
Their progress on the continent. — War against Milan. — Revolution at 
Genoa. 

§ VIII. Contest between Frederic of Aragon, and Robert of Anjou. 
— Crimes and irregularities of Jane I. — Jane II. — Rivalry of Alphonso of 
Aragon, and Rene of Anjou. — Reunion of the two Sicihes. — Wise go- 
vernment of Alphonso. — Treaty of Lodi. — Pacification of Lodi. 



§1. 



HISTORY OF THE STATES OF ITALY AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH 
GERMANY AFTER THE DEATH OF FREDERIC II. 

231. Final contest of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. — Cor- 
radino. — Manfred. — During the period of anarchy which 
desolated Germany (v. preceding ch.), Italy succeeded in 
throwing off the foreign influence to which she had long 
been subjected ; but was unable to form any principle of 
unity for her divided strength, or organize an energetic 
government. While the imperial power was declining so 
rapidly beyond the Alps, the temporal power of the popes — 
the only centre of action for Italy since Gregory VII. — sunk 
with equal rapidity, and with it the political importance of 
the peninsula. Several states will still run a bright career ; 
but their fatal rivalries undermine the basis of their great- 
ness, and prepare that long period of subjection which has 
not yet ended. 

The last contests of the Guelph or national party, against 



ITALY AFTER THE DEATH OF FREDEKIC II. 257 

the house of Hohenstaufen and the Ghibellines, fill the close 
of the thirteenth century. Frederic II. had left his natural 
son Manfred guardian of his two legitimate children, Conrad 
and Henry (1250). Conrad, murderer of his brother Henry, 
was supposed to have fallen a victim himself to the ambition 
of Manfred. However this may have been, Manfred was 
chosen king on the report of the death of Corradino, Conrad's 
son (1258), and crowned at Palermo. The pope refused to 
grant him the investiture, and roused the Guelphs against 
him. The Ghibellines met a severe loss in Lombardy, where 
Eccellino their chief, who had made himself odious by his 
cruelty and tyranny, was defeated and taken prisoner at 
Cassano. At the same time, the pope armed Florence, Luc- 
ca, and all the Guelph cities of Tuscany, against Pisa, Siena, 
and Arezzo, which supported the opposite party, and gave to 
Charles of Anjou, brother of St. Lewis, the investiture of the 
two Sicilies, to set him up against Manfred (1205). The 
new king promised, like Robert Guiscard, to hold the king- 
dom as a fief of the Holy See, pay a tribute of eight thou- 
sand ounces of gold, and send every year to the pontiff* a 
white palfrey in sign of vassalage. 

Charles of Anjou, with the banner of the church at the 
head of his brilliant army, met Manfred near Beneventum. 
The Italian prince was surrounded by a guard of Saracens. 
In the heat of the conflict the silver eagle of his crest fell 
or was struck off": " /i( is the sign of God," he exclaimed; 
and rushing among the enemy, fell, covered with wounds 
(1266). 

232. Charles of Anjou king of the two Sicilies. — Every 
thing gave way to the conqueror : but the Italians soon grew 
tired of the cold and imperious Charles, and called Corradino, 
Conrad's son, from Germany. The Ghibellines of Tuscany 
declared in favor of the young prince, who advanced with a 
numerous army to the walls of Viterbo, to frighten Clement 



258 ITALY AFTER THE DEATH OF FREDERIC 11. 

IV., the ally of Charles of Anjou. " They are victims going 
to the sacrijice," said the pope ; and shortly after his words 
were verified at the battle of Tagliacozzo (1268). The un- 
fortunate Corradino was condemned to death, and executed in 
the public square with his cousin Frederic of Austria, in pre- 
sence of his cold-blooded conqueror. Charles of Anjou, who 
had secured the triumph of the Guelphs, now attempted to 
extend his own power over Italy : but all the Lombard cities 
which had joined him against the Ghibellines, resisted him 
manfully the moment that he began to threaten their inde- 
pendence. Repulsed in northern Italy, he drew away St. 
Lewis to the crusade against Tunis, and had hardly quit Af- 
rica, from whence he was driven by famine and disease, 
when he began to prepare an expedition against the empire 
of the East, and had already taken Corfu and Durazzo, when 
all his hopes were annihilated by an unforeseen event. 

233. Sicilian Vespers. — Separation of Sicily and Naples. 
— Giovanni da Procida, a Sicilian noble who had suffered 
deeply from the tyranny of Charles, took refuge at the court 
of Peter of Aragon, Manfred's son-in-law, and planned 
there the great conspiracy of the Sicilian Vespers, which 
cost the life of every Frenchman in the island. On Easter 
Monday, 30th March, 1282, at the moment in which the bells 
began to ring for vespers, the Sicilians rose up against the 
French, began a general massacre, and in two hours eight 
thousand persons had been put to death. So great was the 
rage of the conspirators, that they killed even the Sicilian 
women who had married Frenchmen. Only one man was 
spared in this general slaughter, William Porcelet, who had 
won so good a name by his virtues, that men did not forget 
it even in that fearful moment. At the news of this catas- 
trophe the pope excommunicated the Sicilians and Peter of 
Aragon, whom they had chosen king (1282). Charles sent 
a powerful army to punish the revolt, but all his efforts fail- 



PKOGBESS OF THE MARITIME REPUBLICS. 259 

ed ; his fleet was destroyed by Roger de Loria and his son 
taken prisoner. All Sicily recognized Peter, who reigned 
till 1285. Charles died the same year, after three years of 
unavailing efforts to reconquer his kingdom. The war con- 
tinued under James I. of Aragon and Charles II. of Valois, 
sons of the two rivals, with many vicissitudes ; but the Ara- 
gonese preserved the dominion over Sicily, and it was not 
till long afterwards that it was again reunited to Naples. 

§11. 

PROGRESS OF THE MARITIME POWERS. 

234. Maritime power of Venice. — Causes of her decay. — 
The independent cities of the north of Italy, leaving the 
southern provinces to struggle as best they might with their 
foreign rulers, directed all their efforts to the strengthening 
of their power at home, and the enlargement of it abroad. 
The power of Venice, confined to the sea, had received an 
extraordinary development during the crusades. The Vene- 
tians, carrying their mercantile spirit to their religious en- 
terprises, had secured an immense pi'ofit in their speculations 
upon the enthusiasm of the crusaders. Venice lent them 
her ships in exchange for their treasures, and hastened to 
establish a factory wherever they made a conquest. The 
fourth crusade confirmed the influence of the Venetians in 
the East, where the Greeks had already granted them free 
commerce in all their ports. The fall of the Greek empire 
threw all the coasts into the hands of the Venetians, and 
gave them the empire of the Mediterranean. The republic 
excited the ambition and cupidity of all her citizens, by of- 
fering the sovereignty of the islands and ports of the Egean, 
to any one that should make the conquest and acknowledge 
the sovereignty of Venice. Immediately a crowd of mer- 



260 PROGRESS OF THE MARITIME REPUBLICS. 

chants and nobles engaged in expeditions, most of which 
were successful, and extended the dominion of the republic, 
which soon reached the highest point of its greatness. But 
the repeated attacks of the Hungarians and lUyrians, and 
above all the rivalry of Genoa, soon began to shake the 
power of the queen of the Adriatic. 

She had already lost her preponderance at Constantinople 
by the ruin of the Latin empire (v. ch. x.), and the Turks, 
masters of Tyre and Ptolemais, had closed the ports of Syria 
against her, when her quarrel with Genoa broke out in all 
its violence. Venice made incredible efforts to preserve the 
navigation of the Black Sea, sometimes arming large fleets, 
sometimes sending out swarms of pirates to destroy the 
commerce of the Genoese ; but after a long war, inaugurated 
by the victory of Trapani (1261), two great naval defeats 
(battle of Curzola, 1293 — of Gallipoli, 1294) compelled her 
to accept a humiliating peace, which closed to her the ports 
of the Black Sea and the sea of Syria. From this epoch 
dates the decay of the maritime power of Venice. 

235. Arisiocraiic revolution at Venice. — Closing of the 
great council. — Council of ten. — The Venetian government 
was at the same time shaken by a great political revolution. 
In a city of which the population had so often been renewed 
by foreign immigrations, the democratic element had natu- 
rally been predominant in the beginning. Nearly all the 
inhabitants of Venice took a part in the nomination of the 
doge and other magistrates ; but the confusion and trouble 
which attended the elections afforded a pretext for change, 
under the name of reform, and in 1172, the right of election 
was transferred from the body of citizens to a great council, 
composed of four hundred and fifty members, chosen by 
twelve electors from the different quarters of the city. While 
the aristocratic principle thus began its attacks upon democ- 
racy, the monarchic element received a severe blow by the 



PROGRESS OF THE MARITIME REPUBLICS. 261 

formation of a council of five members, the correctors of the 
oath of the doge. Finally, in 1268, a, great chancellor was 
created, who was to be chosen from among the commons — 
another way of increasing the power of the nobles ; for by 
granting a privilege to the people, you suppose that there can 
be privileges, and that the nobility are already in possession 
of their own ; by securing to them the possession of the 
second place, you pronounce their exclusion from the first. 

It was in vain that the people protested, and strove, at the 
death of John Dandolo (1289), to regain the right of election. 
The nobility made haste to render all reaction impossible. 
Gradenigo, the doge, carried a decree by which the electors, 
instead of being chosen freely by the people, were to be 
chosen from the great council by its own members. In a 
few years the most influential families had invaded the whole 
council (1309). Nothing was now wanting but to give a 
legal confirmation to their exclusive dominion. A decree 
decided that thenceforth the council would be composed of 
none but the senatorial families which then exercised the 
right. This decree was called the closing of the great coun- 
cil. In 1319 the dignity of counsellor was declared hered- 
itary. And thus the aristocracy became a reigning caste, 
and the state was concentrated in a class, of which the other 
citizens were no longer any thing more than the subjects. 

This victory was not won without difficulty, and several 
conspiracies broke out among the nobles themselves, a large 
portion of whom were disinherited of their share in the go- 
vernment. But the only result was the establishment of a 
tribunal, terrible by the number of its emissaries, the secrecy 
of its operations, and the arbitrariness and rigor of its sen- 
tences, the celebrated council of ten, and within it the in- 
quisitors of state, more especially charged with the examina- 
tion of the affairs and the execution of the decrees of the 
council. 



262 PROGRESS OF THE MARITIME REPUBLICS. 

This redoubtable tribunal, temporary at first, but soon 
declared permanent (1335), stifled for ever in Venice the 
spirit of insubordination and revolt, and with them the spirit 
of liberty. Peace reigned in the republic, but it was the 
calm of oppression and the silence of terror, 

236. Rivalry of Pisa and Genoa. — Decay of Pisa. — 
Greatness of Genoa. — Pisa and Genoa had followed the ex- 
ample of Venice in their external policy, and more occupied 
with foreign affairs than with the quarrels of Italy, had cre- 
ated an important maritime power. But neighbors and rivals 
in ambition, they soon engaged in a desperate struggle which 
could only end in the ruin of one or the other. Under the 
dynasty of the Hohenstaufen the Pisans were supported by 
the imperialists ; but the decay of the Ghibellines, after the 
death of Frederic II., was a fatal blow to them. Sardinia 
was torn from them by the pope ; and the possession of Cor- 
sica became the cause of a fatal war with Genoa. In 1284, 
the terrible battle of Meloria, in which they lost thirty-five 
galleys, five thousand killed, and eleven thousand prisoners, 
destroyed their marine. The captives were carried to Ge- 
noa ; and it became a saying in Italy — Go to Genoa if you loisli 
to see Pisa. This unfortunate city, a target for the attacks of 
all the Guelphs of Tuscany, was reduced to the necessity of 
submitting to the tyranny of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca. 
But the yoke soon became insupportable, and the people 
rising against him, made themselves masters of his person, 
after a desperate resistance, and threw him into the tower 
of the setii vie, where he and his children perished by hun- 
ger. A new war with the Genoese terminated in a treaty, 
which compelled, it is said, the Pisans to block up their port 
(1290). 

This was a period of grandeur for Genoa. In spite of 
the numerous changes in the uncertain form of her govern- 
ment, which gave the dominion for a few years to Charles 



TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY SEE TO AVIGNON. 263 

of Anjou ; in spite of the part she took in the quarrels of the 
Guelphs and Ghibellines, and her desperate contests with 
Venice (1261-1299) ; Genoa had been one of the great 
means of restoring Constantinople to the Greeks : in the 
maritime provinces of the empire she had substituted her 
dominion to that of Venice : she had seized upon the navi- 
gation of the Black Sea ; had subdued Pisa, her constant ri- 
val ; had secured her preponderance in the Mediterranean, 
and established one in the East which lasted till the fall of 
the empire. 



§ III. 

TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY SEE TO AVIGNON. 

237. Relations hetween Clement V. and Philip the Fair. — 
Translation of the Holy See to Avignon. — The decline of the 
political influence of the Holy See in Italy, a fact of immense 
importance — the leading one in the history of the peninsula 
in the thirteenth century, and which changed its destinies for 
all following ages — was decided for ever, when the pope, 
abandoning the pontifical city and his independent domains, 
went to seek an asylum in the states of a foreign prince. 

The quarrel between Philip the Fair and Boniface VIII., 
which ended only with the death of the pope, exposed even 
in Italy to the outrages of the emissaries of his enemy, 
seemed to manifest an intention on the part of the king to 
extend his supremacy over the sovereign pontificate. The 
translation of the Holy See to Avignon was the result and the 
complement of this policy. No sooner had Boniface's suc- 
cessor, Benedict XI. (1303-1304), who had consented to ab- 
solve Philip from the sentence of excommunication, left the 
papal throne vacant by his death, than the king hastened to 



264 TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY SEE TO AVIGNON. 

attach to his party Bertrand of Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, 
who had been proposed as a candidate in the conclave. The 
Frenchman was elected, thanks to Philip's intrigues, and 
took the name of Clement V. (1305-1314). The king as- 
sured him of his protection as the price of several conditions, 
one of which, it was said, was to be accepted without being 
known. One of the conditions was, that the Holy See should 
be transferred to France. Clement, who preferred his own 
country to Rome, torn by factions and agitated by the spirit 
of democracy and revolt, complied readily with the king's 
desire, and established himself in the county of Venaissin, 
within the territories of the counts of Provence, from whom 
his successors bought Avignon. Thus began what the Ital- 
ians call the new captivity of Babylon, which lasted nearly 
seventy years (1309-1376). Yet there were several condi- 
tions to which Clement would not consent. He would not 
brand the memory of his predecessor, for fear of degrading 
the pontificate, although urgently pressed to it by the king. 
And he was supported in it by the decree of the general 
council of Vienne, which declared the pope guiltless of her- 
esy (1311). But Philip obtained a compensation in the bull 
of 1307, which abolished the order of Templars in all the 
states of Europe. And this, say some historians, was the 
condition which the king had not been willing to tell before- 
hand. 

238. Troubles in Italy. — Rienzi tribune at Roine, — One 
of the fruits of the residence of the popes at Avignon was 
the quarrel of Lewis of Bavaria with the Holy See. John 
XXII. (1316-1333) began this new contest with the empire. 
He refused to recognize Lewis, and claimed for himself the 
right of naming an imperial vicar during the vacancy of the 
empire. Benedict XII. and Clement VI., to serve the policy 
of France, and often against their own wills, pursued the 
emperor with their anathemas. Benedict XIL (1334-1342)^ 



TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY SEE TO AVIGNON. 265 

ashamed of his vassalage, wished to escape from it by re- 
turning to Italy ; but the revival of the quarrels of the 
Guelphs and Ghibellines brought him back to France. 

Under Clement VI. (1342-1352), Benedict's successor, 
the return was still more difficult. A new tribune, Nicholas 
Rienzi (Cola Gabrino), was on the point of taking Rome 
from the popes (1347). This man of low birth had inflamed 
his ardent imagination by the history of the old republic. 
He possessed a lively eloquence, and when he assembled the 
people around the monuments of their ancient grandeur, and 
spoke to them of the glory of their fathers, he kindled an 
enthusiasm to which they had long been strangers. Inflamed 
by his discourses, they invested him with the supreme power 
and established him in the capitol. He called himself Rien- 
zi, severe and clement, tribune of justice, peace, and liberty, the 
illustrious liberator of his country ; and, intoxicated with his 
triumph, formed the project of a universal republic, of which 
Rome was to be the centre. He summoned Clement VI., 
Lewis of Bavaria, and Charles of Bohemia, to come and de- 
fend their claims before his tribunal. But the people soon 
grew tired of their new master. He was driven from Rome, 
and re-established after an exile of seven years, by the pro- 
tection of Innocent VI. But he again made himself obnox- 
ious by his misgovernment, was besieged in the capitol, and 
killed in a popular tumult (1354). 

239. Return of the pope to Rome. — An envoy of the 
pope, Cardinal Albornoz, who had been a soldier in his youth 
and knighted by Alphonso XL, undertook the perilous task of 
re-establishing order and submission, after so many troubles 
and revolts. By address, firmness, and perseverance, this 
skilful politician succeeded in bringing back Rome to the 
authority of the sovereign pontiff", and prepared the way for 
a return which had become more necessary than ever. 

The frightful disorder which reigned in France had made 



266 GKEAT SCHISM OF THE WEST. 

the residence of Avignon odious to the popes. During the 
pontificate of Innocent V. (1352-1362), a band of adventu- 
rers spread over the territory of the city, and only ceased 
their robberies to go and wage war in Italy under the banner 
of the marquis of Montferrat. Under Urban V. ( 1 362-1 370), 
new French bands, commanded by Bertrand of Guesclin, 
spread through the county, and raised a tax of 200,000 florins 
on the pontifical treasury. These multiplied injuries, the 
entreaties of the Italians, the submission of Rome, and the 
promises of the emperor, decided Urban V. to quit the French 
territory ; to which, however, he returned again before he died. 
But his successor, Gregory XI. (1370), restored the seat of 
the pontificate definitively to Italy. He made his entry into 
Rome (1376) with triumphal pomp, amid the acclamations 
of the people, and chose for his residence the Vatican, the 
name of which from that time became indissolubly connected 
with the papal throne (1377). 



§ IV. 

GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST. COUNCILS OF CONSTANCE AND 

BASLE. 

240. Douhle election of Urban VI. and CIeme7it VII. — 
Beginning of the schism of the West. — It was with no good 
will that France had renounced the privilege of holding the 
papal throne within her territories, and her resentment gave 
rise to the great schism of the West, which lasted half a 
century. The election which followed the death of Gregory 
was the pretext of this schism. Armed men had threatened 
the cardinals with death, unless they elected a Roman pope. 
They yielded, and chose an Italian, Urban VI. But soon 
after, several of them, disgusted with the severity with which 



GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST. 267 

the new pontiff repressed their corruptions, protested against 
the election, and chose a Frenchman, Clement VII., who es- 
tablished himself at Avignon. The whole church was di- 
vided by this schism. Some states took the side of one pope, 
others of the other ; and this fatal contest continued under 
their successors. After the double election of Benedict XIII. 
and Gregory XII., the council of Pisa made a vain effort to 
end the quarrel by inducing them both to abdicate, and 
thought that it could overcome their resistance by giving the 
tiara to the virtuous Alexander V., who, once a beggar of his 
bread in Candia, had raised himself by his merit to the arch- 
bishopric of Milan (1409). But this only increased the con- 
fusion : instead of two popes there were now three ; and to 
put an end to the scandal, Alexander's successor, John XXIII. 
(1410-1415), resolved to convoke a general council at Con- 
stance. 

241. Council of Constance. — A crowd of lay and ecclesi- 
astical princes, the electors of the empire, the plenipotentia- 
ries of all the courts of Christendom, the emperor Sigismund 
himself, Pope John XXIIL, and the legates of Benedict XIII. 
and Gregory XII., and, says an eyewitness, several pagan 
lords, wonderfully dressed, with a great many Greeks and 
Mussulmen, met at Constance (1414). A hundred and fifty 
thousand Christians were assembled in the city and its envi- 
rons, and all Europe awaited with anxiety the decrees of a 
council which was to put an end to the schism which divided 
the church, and condemn the heresy of John Huss. This 
heresy, as it was called by the council, was the same doctrine 
which in the next century was to strip the Catholic church 
of so large a portion of its heritage — attacking monastic 
vows, the supremacy of the pope, and the worship of saints. 
Huss consummated his revolt by publicly burning, as Luther 
did after him, the pontifical bulls, and came boldly to the 
council to defend his doctrines, which his partisans were 



268 GREAT SCHISBI OF THE "WEST. 

actively spreading in Bohemia. Condemned by the church, 
he refused to retract, and in spite of the safe-conduct of the 
emperor, was burned at the stake (1415). 

242. Martin V. — Attempts at reform. — Council of Basle. 
— End of the schism. — Still the great object of the council, 
the extinction of the schism, was not yet accomplished. John 
XXIII. , to escape the decision of the council, had fled in 
the disguise of a postillion, and taken refuge at Schaffhausen : 
but still he was deposed. Gregory XII. abdicated voluntari- 
ly. Benedict XIII. resisted the entreaties of the council and 
the emperor. He was deposed in spite of his opposition, and 
an Italian, Martin V., raised to the pontifical throne (1417). 
Peace seemed to have been at last established in the church ; 
but this long schism had introduced serious evils which called 
for an immediate reform. But the new pope, fearing to en- 
gage in this pej'ilous, though necessary task, dissolved the 
assembly without heeding the remonstrances of the prelates, 
who would gladly have averted the danger which menaced 
them from so near. 

The condemnation of John Huss was soon followed by 
that of his disciple, Jerome of Prague (1416). But their 
doctrines spread, and the success of the Taborites soon made 
it necessary to convoke a second council. It met at Basle, 
condemned the Hussites anew, called attention to several 
great abuses, and began to work earnestly at the difficult 
task of the reunion of the Greek church. But the pope was 
again frightened by the cry for reform. Eugene IV. (1431— 
1447) adjourned the council, several of whose members, 
irritated by these hesitations, proclaimed Amedeus VIII., 
duke of Savoy (1439), who took the name of Felix V. But 
the greater part of the bishops soon met again at Ferrara, 
and then at Florence, where Eugene IV. enjoyed the tran- 
sient glory of proclaiming the reunion of the Greek and 
Roman churches in a solemn act, which recognized the pope 



SOVEREIGN FAMILIES OF ITALY. 269 

as head of the church, and gave the second place to the pa- 
triarch of Constantinople. The abdication of Felix V. soon 
followed, and Nicholas V., sole pope, confirmed by his pru- 
dence the general pacification (1449). From that time the 
popes lived tranquilly at Rome. 



§ V. 



SOVEREIGN FAMILIES OF ITALY. 

243. Independent powers in the north of Italy. — While 
Europe was agitated by these religious troubles, Italy served 
as the theatre for the last quarrels of the Guelphs and Ghi- 
bellines, which were kept alive by the rivalries of the little 
independent powers which divided the peninsula. The 
northern provinces had hardly thrown off the imperial yoke 
when the nobles seized the power and established themselves 
as sovereigns in the principal cities. The most powerful 
were the Delia Scala, who replaced the Eccellini in Verona; 
the counts of Savoy, the princes of Este at Modena and Fer- 
rara, the Gonzaga at Mantua, and Visconti at Milan. 

244. The Visconti at 3Iilan. — State of Lomlardy and Sa- 
voy. — The family of the Visconti triumphed towards 1276, over 
the rival family of Torriani, and took possession of the su- 
preme authority, which became hereditary among them after 
the emperor Henry VII. had conferred upon one of them the 
title of imperial vicar of Lombardy. Milan, under the go- 
vernment of the Visconti, held the supremacy in upper Italy, 
as it had done during the league of Lombardy. Verona, 
Vicenza, Padua, Piacenza, and Pisa herself, recognized the 
authority of the dukes of Milan (1315). But the power of 
the Visconti excited a reaction, which involved them in seri- 
ous difficulties. A league formed by Venice with the cities 



270 SOVEREIGN FAMILIES OF ITALY. 

of Padua, Verona, Ferrara, and Mantua, was overcome by 
the two brothers Bernabos and Galeazzo. Bernabos avenged 
hhnself by frightful cruelties, maintained his authority in 
Milan, and tried to deprive his nephew, John Galeazzo, of his 
share of power. But the wily young prince, deceiving his 
uncle, seized upon his person, threw him into prison, and 
governed alone. John Galeazzo (1385-1432), as skilful as 
he was ambitious, extended his power rapidly over all Lom- 
bardy : Padua opened her gates to him ; the duke of Savoy, 
the lords of Gonzaga, Este, and Montferrat recognized his 
supremacy ; Bologna submitted to his laws, and the feeble 
emperor Vincislaus gladly sold him the ducal dignity for a 
hundred thousand crowns. 

John Galeazzo had taken into pay the bands of condottieri, 
a kind of Italian soldiery, similar to the great companies in 
France, who sold their services to the best paymaster. But 
the insubordination of these adventurers frequently rendered 
them more redoubtable to their allies than to their enemies. 
The firm and powerful Galeazzo kept them within bounds, 
but they took ample amends on his young successors. Their 
influence soon became supreme in Milan, and at the death of 
Philip Maria Visconti, Galeazzo's second son (1447), one of 
their leaders, Francesco Sforza, aided by the Venetians, 
seized the supreme authority, in spite of the eiforts of the 
Milanese to re-establish the democracy. His family preserv- 
ed the crown for fifty years. 

The republican government had disappeared throughout 
the rest of Lombardy, and the names of Guelph and Ghibelline, 
though occasionally heard, had lost their political meaning, 
and served only as a cover to private enmities. In the east 
of Lombardy, amid a crowd of obscure principalities, the 
only house which was to preserve some celebrity and impor- 
tance, was the house of Savoy. At the end of the fourteenth 
century it was represented by Amedeus VIII., who early in 



REPUBLICS OF TUSCANY. 271 

the century following was raised to the ducal dignity by the 
emperor Sigismund (1419). 



§ VI. 

REPUBLICS OF TUSCANY. 

245. Continuation of the contest of Guelphs and Ghihel- 
lines. — The Neri and the Bianchi. — Plague of Florence. — 
The Guelph and Ghibelline parties lasted longer in Tuscany, 
which they continued to divide into two camps. In the mid- 
dle of the thirteenth century the Ghibellines ruled at Pisa, 
Siena, Pistoja, and Volterra ; and succeeded even in making 
themselves masters of Florence, which, with Lucca, was at 
the head of the Guelphs. But Florence, subjected for a mo- 
ment by the family of the Uberti to an aristocratical govern- 
ment, revolted against the Ghibellines, re-established the de- 
mocracy, and exiling the Uberti, confided the authority to 
two anziani (ancients). This revolution secured the triumph 
of the Guelphs till the battle of the Arbia or Monte Aperto, 
where they were defeated with great loss by the exiles, by 
the aid of the Siennese and Manfred. Nothing but the patri- 
otism of Farinata degli Uberti saved Florence herself from 
destruction. 

In the intoxication of victory, the Siennese built the tower 
of St. George of the thirty-eight windows, in honor of the 
thirty-eight companies that had taken part in the combat 
(1260). 

Still this event did not end the quarrel. Florence gradu- 
ally regained her strength, and avenged herself by the sack 
of Pistoja (1306). Pisa, though fallen from her ancient lus- 
tre, remained at the head of the Ghibellines, who were 
vigorously supported by an exile from Lucca, Caslruccio 



272 REPUBLICS OF TUSCANY. 

Castracani, a bold captain and skilful politician. Castruccio 
became the terror of all Tuscany, all-powerful at home, and 
supported by the alliance of Galeazzo Visconti, who had 
sought his friendship. Florence made an effort to defend 
her old superiority, but was defeated in a decisive battle 
(1325). Thus unsuccessful abroad, she was lacerated at 
home by the factions of the Neri and Bianchi, and reduced 
to intrust the supreme power to a foreigner, Walter, duke of 
Athens, an avaricious, cruel, and proud man, who sought 
rather to be feared than loved, and imposed on the Floren- 
tines a galling yoke. To all these disasters was added the 
famous plague, which the eloquence of Boccacio has render- 
ed so celebrated. A hundred thousand persons were swept 
off by this scourge, and among them the historian Villani 
(1348). 

246. Rise of the house of Medici : Silvestro, John, Cosi- 
mo. — Towards the end of the fourteenth century the family 
of the Medici began to take an active part in public affairs. 
In 1378 Silvestro dei Medici, the first illustrious personage 
of his race, employed all his influence to secure the triumph 
of the democratic party against an oligarchy of the com- 
mons, which had seized the power after the fall of the duke 
of Athens. With this revolution began the most brilliant 
period of Florentine history. Pisa, her ancient rival, which 
had fallen under the yoke of foreigners, was sold to her by 
the duke of Milan, and compelled, in spite of a desperate re- 
sistance, to submit to her sway. After the death of Silves- 
tro, Joh7i de' Medici, a banker, won by his liberality the name 
of father of the poor. Fie bequeathed a large fortune to his 
children, but died still richer in public love than in lands or 
gold. " Seek nothing beyond what the laws or men's free 
will gives you," was his dying counsel to his children, " an4 
thus you will avoid envy and the ills which follow in its 
train." Such were the principles which governed the con- 



RIVALRY OF VENICE AND GENOA. 273 

duct of his eldest son Cosimo (1430-1464). Banished for a 
moment by the oligarchy, Cosimo was recalled by the whole 
people (1434), and remained to his death at the head of the 
republic, which enjoyed, under his administration, a peace 
and prosperity which it had never known before. Tranquil 
at home, respected abroad, and surrounded by all the splen- 
dor of arts and letters, she forgot, in the security inspired by 
the virtues and moderation of Cosimo, to guard against the 
danger to which she might be exposed by his successors. 
Cosimo was honored with the title of father of Ids country. 



§ VII. 

RIVALRY OF VENICE AND GENOA. 

247. Respective positions of Venice and Genoa. — Conspi- 
racy of Marino Faliero. — Taking but little part in the inter- 
nal dissensions of Italy, Venice and Genoa engaged actively 
in the general affairs of Europe, to increase their power by 
skilfully profiting by foreign wars, and above all by means 
of great commercial enterprises. The East, with its wealth, 
excited the ambition of the two republics, who could not meet 
often on this ground without being brought into collision by 
the opposition of interests. The revolution which wrested 
Constantinople from the Latins had established the power 
of Genoa in the Black sea. But Venice still ruled in the 
Archipelago. The taking of Treviso had extended her power 
on the coasts of the Adriatic (1339), and a treaty with the 
sultan of Egypt opened new markets for her commerce 
(1342). The Genoese, who had humbled their rivals in 
1299 (v. ch. xi.), attempted to cut them off from the naviga. 
tion of the sea of Azof, and Venice, to protect the liberty 
of her commerce, was obliged to resolve upon war. 



274 RIVALRY OF VENICE AND GENOA. 

The success was still nearly balanced between the two 
republics, when Venice was exposed to great danger by the 
conspiracy of Marino Faliero. The doge, an old man of 
eighty, had been deeply outraged by a young noble, and the 
only punishment which the council of ten inflicted was a few 
days' imprisonment. Faliero dissembled his rage, and unit- 
ing with the leader of the democratic party, formed a conspi- 
racy, the object of which was the death of the patricians and 
the annihilation of the aristocracy. Six hundred conspira- 
tors were to assemble on the square of St. Mark on the 15th 
of April, 1355, at the signal of the tocsin, which the doge 
was to have sounded, and massacre the nobles as they came, 
one by one, to gather around the head of the republic. But 
the day before the plot was to break out, it was revealed to a 
member of the council of ten. The conspirators were given 
up to punishment, and the doge beheaded on the great stair, 
case of the ducal palace, on the very spot where he had re- 
ceived the crown. 

248. Wars letween the Genoese and Venetians. — Venice, 
enfeebled by this terrible execution, was forced to conclude a 
disadvantageous peace with Genoa. Two years after, the 
king of Hungary, profiting by her humiliation, stripped her 
of the greater part of Dalmatia, and soon a new war with 
Genoa brought her to the brink of ruin. The conquest of 
Cyprus by the Genoese was the cause of this rupture. Ve- 
nice took the part of King Lusignan, and at first was victori- 
ous ; but the Genoese regained the advantage, defeated their 
enemies at Pola (1379), and suddenly appeared before Ve- 
nice, after having seized on Chiozza, twenty-five miles south 
of the city. Peter Doria, who with Francis Carrara command- 
ed the Genoese, boasted that he was going to replunge Venice 
into her lagoons, and replied haughtily to the entreaties of the 
senate and doge, that he would listen to no proposals till he 
had put a bridle on the bronze horses of St. Mark. The Ve- 



RIVALRY OF VENICE AND GENOA. 275 

netian signoi'ia was prepared to remove to Candia at the first 
new reverse. But Victor Pisani, who had been unjustly 
thrown into prison for the loss of a battle which he had fought 
by express order, and against his own judgment, was drawn 
from his dungeon to be placed in this emergency at the head 
of the fleet, and joining with Zeno, who brought back a por- 
tion of the fleet from the East, blockaded the Genoese at Chi- 
ozza, and in spite of a vigorous defence and the heroic efforts 
of the republic and her allies to deliver them, compelled them 
to surrender at discretion. Shortly after, both parties, great- 
ly weakened by their losses, were glad to sign a peace which 
left things very nearly where they were at the beginning of 
the war (1381). 

Soon, however, Venice revived her power on the conti- 
nent by favor of the dissensions which agitated her rival. 
She recovered Treviso, Istria, and the Polesine of Rovigo, 
while Genoa, wearied with her discords, gave herself up to 
France, who sent the marshal Boucicault to govern her 
(1401). Under this new administration Genoa flourished, 
and after a short war with Venice, consented to put an end 
to a disastrous rivalry, in order to think only of enlarging 
her power at the expense of strangers. 

249. War against the Milanese. — Revolution in Genoa. 
— Venice, seconded by the condottiere Carmagola, whom she 
had detached by liberal offers from the service of Milan, 
turned her victorious arms against the cities of Lombardy, 
and got possession of Vicenza, Verona, Padua (1410), Bres- 
cia, and Bergamo (1448) : during the same period she took 
Dalmatia from the king of Hungary (1426), and Friuli from 
the patriarch of Aquileja. Her progress was only checked 
by Francis Sforza, who compelled her to accept peace just as 
the Turks made themselves masters of Constantinople (v. 
treaty of Lodi, § viii.). 

The Genoese, having driven away the French (1409), 



'276 HOUSE OF AEAGON. 

tried during the next fifty years every form of government : 
re-established and overthrew their doges, submitted to the 
sovereignty of Milan (1419-1435), and recovering their lib- 
erty, wasted in anarchy a strength which they ought to have 
consecrated to the defence of Constantinople (1453), whose 
fall, neither they nor their rivals knew how either to prevent, 
or to avenge. This great event, however, decided the decay 
of the two republics. 



§ VIII. 

HOtJSE OF ARAGON. TREATY OF LODI. 

250. Contest between Frederic II., and Robert of Anjou. 
— Jane I. — During this period, important revolutions had 
several times changed the face of the southern portion of 
the peninsula. The two Sicilies, separated by the catas- 
trophe of the Sicilian vespers, could not be reunited by 
treaties. The son of Peter of Aragon, Frederic II. (1296- 
1337), refused to give up Sicily, and was sustained by the 
emperor and the Ghibellines. Robert the PFz'^e (1309-1343), 
successor of Charles II. of Anjou, although chief of all the 
Guelph states of Italy, could not wrest Sicily from his rival, 
and reigned only on the continent. The tyranny of his 
granddaughter Jane I. (1343), was felt all the more deeply 
from its contrast with the mildness and wisdom of the pre- 
ceding reign. This princess, celebrated by her crimes and 
misfortunes, opened — by the mui'der of Andrew of Hungary, 
her husband — a long career of scandals and crimes. She 
married Lewis of Tarentum, one of the murderers of her 
first husband ; but the king of Hungary taking up arms to 
avenge his brother, invaded Italy, with a black banner for 
his standard with the bloody body of the unfortunate Andrew 



HOUSE OF ARAGON. 277 

painted on it. Soon the queen had nothing left but the cities 
of Naples and Aversa. Clement V. interposed his media- 
tion. But Jane reascended the throne only to dishonor it by 
new excesses. Widow of James of Aragon, whom she had 
married after the death of Lewis of Tarentum, she gave her 
hand to a captain of Condottieri. Childless, though four times 
married, she named her relation Charles Durazzo her succes- 
sor ; and then irritated by his machinations, revoked her 
nomination and adopted Lewis of Anjou, son of John king 
of France. But Durazzo, by vigorous exertion, seized upon 
the government ; and taking Jane prisoner, had her strangled 
in prison (May 13, 1382). 

251. Jane II. — Rivalry of Alphonso of Aragon and 
Renato of Anjou, — Treaty of Lodi. — A long quarrel arose 
from the rival pretensions of the two claimants of the throne 
of Naples ; and though suspended for a moment under Jane 
II. (1414-1435) last heir of Durazzo, was revived with 
new vigor after the death of this princess, who proved her- 
self, by her scandalous life, a worthy successor of the first 
Jane. At first she had adopted Alphonso V. of Aragon, and 
then replaced him by Lewis III. of Anjou ; and then by 
Renato d' Anjou, after the death of his brother. Each of 
these princes supported his claim by the act in his favor. 
But Alphonso, the most powerful and most skilful, took pos- 
session of Naples, and re-established the unity of the king- 
dom of the two Sicilies (1442), in spite of an unfortunate war 
against the duke of Milan and all the efforts of Renato, who 
transmitted his rights to his nephew Charles of Maine. 
These rights were one day to pass to the crown of France, 
and give rise to new wars. Master of Southern Italy, Al- 
phonso, whose noble qualities won him the surname of Mag- 
nanimous, and whom Mariana calls the glory of the Spanish 
nation, gave all his attention to the re-establishment of tran- 
quillity in his states and throughout Italy. He adhered to 



278 HOUSE OF AKAGON. 

the treaty ofLodi, which terminated in 1454 the long quarrel 
of Milan and Venice, by securing to the Lombard republic 
the ancient district of Cremona and the Ghiaradadda. All 
the little states of the North were compelled to subscribe to 
the treaty. The pope and republic of Florence acceded to 
it, and it may be regarded as the act of the general pacifica- 
tion of Italy. 



CHAPTER XT. 

FEANOE AND ENGLAND DUEINa THE FIEST 
PEEIOD OF THEIE EIVALEY. 



SUMMARY. 

§ I. Enfranchisement of communities. — Their constitution. — Lewis 
the Fat. — Contest with feudalism. — Beginning of the rivalry with Eng- 
land. — Lewis VIL — Philip Augustus arms against England : contends 
with his vassals. — Battle of Bouvines. — War of the Albigenses. — Lewis 
VIII. — St. Lewis. — Regency of Blanche of Castile. — Success against 
the English. — Character of the policy of St. Lewis : his influence. — 
The crusades. — Philip the Bold. — Disputes with Spain. — Philip the Fair : 
his wars: his despotism. — States-general. — Civilians. — Quarrel with 
Boniface VIII. — Abolition of the order of the Templars. — Lewis the 
Stubborn (Ze Hutin). — Philip the Long. — Charles the Fair. — Progress 
of national liberty. — End of the first phase of the contest between France 
and England. 

§ II. England. — Causes of the rivalry of France and England. — 
Quarrels of the sons of William the Conqueror. — William Rufus. — 
Henry Beauclerc. — William Cliton despoiled by his uncles : succored by 
the king of France. — Stephen. — Power of the vassals. — Oppression of 
the people. — Henry I. Plantagenet, marries Eleanor of Guyenne. — 
Thomas a Becket. — Submission of Brittany. — Conquest of Ireland. — 
Revolt of the sons of Henry. — Richard I. Cwur de Lion. — Crusade. — 
Exploits and captivity of Richard. — Usurpation of John Lackland. — 
Richard's return to England. — Reign of John. — Murder of Arthur of 
Brittany. — Disputes with Philip Augustus. — England declared a fief of 
the Holy See. — Magna-Charta. — Revolt of the barons. — Lewis of France 



280 FRANCE UNDER THE CAPETIANS. 

king of England. — Henry III. — Parliament. — Simon of Leicester. — Sta- 
tutes of Oxford. — St. Lewis umpire between Henry and his barons. — 
Henry delivered from his captivity by his son Edward. — Edward I. — 
Submission of Wales. — Contest with Scotland. — Exploits of Wallace. — 
Robert Bruce. — Edward II. : his weakness. — Confirmation of Magna- 
Charta. — Influence of favorites. — New contest with Robert Bruce. — In- 
dependence of Scotland. — Edward dethroned by his wife Isabel, leagued 
with the barons : his frightful death. 

§ III. Peculiar character of the feudal power in England. — The ba- 
rons labor to extend national liberty. — Influence of Magna-Charta. — 
Organization of parliaments. — Their origin and development. — Pro- 
gress of cities. — Their wealth and power. — Deputies of the commons. 



§1. 

HISTORY OF FRANCE UNDER THE CAPETIANS, FROM LEWIS THE 

FAT TO THE ACCESSION OF PHILIP OF VALOIS. REVOLUTION 

IN THE COMMUNITIES OF THE NORTH OF FRANCE. ST, LEWIS. 

ALBIGENSES. DISPUTES OF PHILIP THE FAIR WITH ENG- 
LAND WITH SPAIN WITH THE HOLY SEE. TEMPLARS. 

PROGRESS OF THE ROYAL POWER. CONVOCATION OF THE 

STATES-GENERAL. 

252. The history of France during this period presents a 
double aspect : without, the first phase of the rivalry with 
England ; within, the formation of French nationality by the 
enfranchisement of communities, and the simultaneous de- 
velopment of monarchical power. 

A popular opinion refers the enfranchisement of commu- 
nities to Lewis the Fat. We must not suppose that this 
species of republics, free in spite of feudal despotism, sprang 
up all of a sudden and for the first time under the fourth 
Capetian. In the south of France there had remained deep 
traces of the Roman municipal government : a great number 
of cities had preserved their institutions and their form of go- 



FRANCE UNDER THE CAPETIANS. 281 

vernment independent of the feudal hiei'archy which reigned 
around them. They had for centuries been real communi- 
ties, destined to serve as a model for those which were to be 
formed in the North in opposition to feudal tyranny, and 
which were first known under the name of conspiracies. 
Their distinctive characteristic was an association sworn and 
authorized by an authentic act ; the drawing up and con- 
firmation of usages and customs ; the attribution of rights 
and privileges, among which was a jurisdiction more or less 
extensive, intrusted to magistrates chosen by the communi- 
ties from themselves. 

Nor is it true that the establishment of communities was 
the result of a plan formed by royal policy against the clergy 
and nobility. The king undoubtedly availed himself of com- 
munities to strengthen his authority ; and stood ready to ex- 
tend his jurisdiction over all the cities which had freed them- 
selves from that of the nobles : but far the greater part of 
these communities sprang from an insurrection against the 
intolerable yoke of feudality, and the king did nothing more 
than sanction the liberty which they had already won. The 
first charters granted by the king, go back in France to the 
twelfth century ; from which time they follow in unbroken 
succession till the moment when they acquired a political 
existence by the introduction of the third estate into the 
states-general. 

253. Reign of Lewis V., the Fat. — Lewis the Fat (1108- 
1137), whose warlike activity had won for him in his youth 
the surname of active and disputatious, began the contest 
against feudality much more like a valiant knight than a 
profound politician ; with lance and sword, rather than by 
profound and skilful combinations. The part which he took 
in the enfranchisement of the first communities, was very in- 
direct ; but he was actively engaged in enforcing the royal 
authority, by waging an incessant war against the nobles in 



382 FRANCE UNDER THE CAPETIANS. 

favor of their oppressed vassals, and seizing at the same time 
every occasion of avenging himself for the progress of his 
too powerful vassal the king of England. He may justly be 
considered as the restoi'er of royalty, which was far from 
having recovered under the first successors of Hugh Capet, 
the power and splendor which it had wholly lost under the 
last Carolingians. 

Watching over the safety of his subjects and tranquil- 
lity of his kingdom, constantly threatened by the turbulence 
of the vassals ; he forced the lord of Bourbon to yield ; de- 
fended the bishop of Clermont against the count of Auvergne ; 
placed himself as umpire between the pretenders to the in- 
heritance of the count of Flanders ; and destroyed the for- 
tresses in which the lords of Coucy and St. Brisson had 
heaped up the products of their robberies. 

Without, he sustained vigorously against Henry I. of 
England, a war which had begun by the entrance of the 
English into Gisors (v. No. 263). The king of England 
victorious at Brenneville (1119), succeeded in inducing the 
emperor Henry V. to take up arms in his favor, and France 
was menaced with a formidable invasion : but Lewis col- 
lected a powerful force, and made such good preparation that 
the invaders retired with precipitation (1124). 

254. Lewis VII., the Young. — Lewis the Fat died in 
1137, leaving to his son Lewis the Young a throne consoli- 
dated by skilful government ; and a domain enlarged by 
the marriage which he had made him contract with Eleanor 
of Aquitania (v. § ii. of this ch.). 

The national reaction against feudality continued during 
the new reign (1137-1180), in spite of the unskilfulness of a 
prince who did not know how to profit by any of the wise 
lessons which he had received from his father. In an expe- 
dition against the count of Champagne, he had burnt the in- 
habitants of the little town of Vitry, who had taken refuge 



FRANCE UNDER THE CAPETIANS. 233 

in the church. To expiate this crueUy he imprudently took 
the cross at the preaching of St. Bernard, in spite of the 
councils of his prudent minister Suger, and lost his soldiers 
beyond the sea, in an ill-conceived and ill-directed enterprise. 
The skilful administration of Suger repaired the consequen- 
ces of this unfortunate expedition. But after his death, a 
fatal event, the king's divorce, stripped the crown of the rich 
and fertile provinces, which Eleanor of Aquitania transfer- 
red to England by her marriage with Henry Plantagenet 
(1152). Henry's hostility to France was not long in mani- 
festing itself openly, and his power to injure her was still 
more increased by the marriage of his third son with the 
heiress of the duke of Brittany (1166). A great many com- 
munities received, during this reign, their charters of en- 
franchisement ; but the royal domain, reduced again to its 
narrow limits between the Seine and Loire, was bounded on 
the north and the south by the vast provinces of the king 
of England. 

255. Reign of Philip Augustus. — It was reserved to 
rhilip Augustus (1180-1223) to repair triumphantly the 
faults of his predecessor. Ascending the throne at fifteen, 
he disconcerts by his firmness the ambitious projects of his 
mother and uncles, reduces his vassals to obedience, compels 
the count of Flanders to acknowledge, on his knees, his su- 
zerainty, and give up to him, with the Vermandois, the 
cities of Peronne and St. Quentin (1185), and at the same 
time foments the rebellion of the sons of his rival, Henry 
of England. He gives royalty an immense ascendant by 
making himself the judge of all questions of fiefs, and compels 
feudalism to submit to the court of peers, a tribunal which, 
though drawn from its own bosom, sets legal bounds to the 
arbitrary power of the gi'eat. Not less skilful in his foreign 
policy, he spurs on Henry's successor, the ardent Richard 
Coeur de Lion, to the crusade ; while he limits his own ex- 



284 FRANCE UNDEK THE CAPETIANS. 

ertions to a rapid campaign, and leaving the king of England 
to win an empty renown by useless exploits, returns to watch 
over the events of Europe. 

Richard's return, after a long captivity, caused the explo- 
sion of a hostility, the symptoms of which had appeared 
during the crusade. The war had no other result than the 
devastation of the Vexin and Normandy ; but after the death 
of the king of England, a brilliant period began for the king 
of France (1199). In a seven years' contest he wrested 
from the cowardly and unskilful John, the assassin of his 
nephew, Arthur of Brittany, a great part of his continental 
domains, in execution of a decree of the court of peers 
(1199-1206) (v. § ii. of this ch.). The supreme ascenden- 
cy of the pontifical power, whose protection John had im- 
plored, put an end to Philip's progress, while the Englishman, 
stripped of his states, seconded against France the emperor 
of Germany, Otho IV., the dukes of Brabant and Limburg, 
the count of Flanders, the count of Boulogne, and almost all 
the lords of Normandy, Anjqu, and Aquitania, united against 
the French throne in the name of feudality. But Philip, 
supported by the troops of the communities, triumphed at 
Bouvines over all his enemies at once, and in spite of the im- 
mense superiority of their army (1214). The emperor fled, 
and the principal chiefs fell into the hands of the king of 
France, who soon had the satisfaction of seeing the crown, 
which had been snatched from the worthless John, offered to 
his son by the English themselves (1215). Memorable reign, 
and one, the glory of which would have been untarnished, 
if the war of the Albigenses had not mingled its frightful 
scenes with the splendor of this eventful epoch. 

256. War of the Albigenses. — Lewis VIII. the Lion. — 
A violent persecution against the Jews (1180-1182), who 
were stripped of the wealth accumulated in their hands, was 
the prelude of the war which was about to cover France with 



FRANCE UNDER, THE CAPETIANS. 285 

ruins and blood. After many efforts vainly made by St. Ber- 
nard and Popes Alexander III. and Innocent III., to induce 
the Albigenses to renounce their faith and acknowledge the 
Catholic church, it was resolved to try the force of arms, and 
a crusade was preached against them. The count of Mont- 
fort, leader of the crusaders, ravaged the flourishing districts 
of the south of France with fire and sword, and took from 
the count of Toulouse all his states, already far superior to 
the rest of Europe in culture and civilization. Philip had 
sent his sons to this horrid war, although he had refused to 
take a part in it himself. His successor, Lewis the Lion 
(1223-1226), less prudent than his father, turned aside from 
his successful career against the English, whom he had al- 
ready stripped of lower Poictou, Aunis, the Limousin, and 
Perigord (1224), to direct all his efforts against the count 
of Toulouse, after having caused Amaury of Montfort to 
cede to him all the rights which he had received from the 
court of Rome. The preaching of a new crusade brought 
a large number of warriors to the standard of the king, 
who had already made himself master of Avignon and 
Nismes, when he was carried off by a contagious disease 
(1226). 

257. Eeign of St. Lewis. — Lewis VIII. left an insecure 
sceptre to a son but eleven years old. But the regency was 
in the hands of Blanche of Castile, and the king was St. 
Lewis. It was in vain that the king's uncle attempted to 
seize upon the regency, and that the great vassals, sustained 
by the king of England, leagued together to recover, by pro- 
fiting by a minority, the ascendency which feudality had lost 
under the last reigns. The regent thwarted all their plots 
by negotiations and by arms. The counts of Champagne, 
of Toulouse, and Brittany, were reduced to submission; 
and the marriage of the young king with Margaret, daugh- 
ter of the count of Provence, secured an augmentation of 



286 FRANCE UNDER THE CAPETIANS. 

rich and powerful provinces to the crown. Lewis IX. attain- 
ing his majority at the age of twenty-one, displayed all the 
virtues of a saint, and all the genius of a great man (1226- 
1270). 

His life was passed in defending the interests of his coun- 
try, and the still higher interests of Christendom. He fol- 
lowed up with indefatigable energy and admirable disinter- 
estedness the national work of Lewis the Fat and and Philip 
Augustus — a work of internal organization, and of slow but 
sure aggrandizement abroad. The victories of Taillehurg and 
Sainies, which he won over Henry IIL of England, ally of the 
rebellious counts of Toulouse and de la Marche, inaugurat- 
ed his reign (1242). But in the midst of his triumph he 
respected the obligations of a scrupulous equity, and a treaty 
guarantied by an act of unheard-of generosity (1259) de- 
fines the territories of France by securing her supremacy. 
If he gives up to Henry IIL the Limousin, Perigord, Quercy, 
and Agenois, he obliges him to abandon his claims upon Nor- 
mandy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, and Poictou: he had already 
won the county of Toulouse, of Macon, and a part of that 
of Champagne ; and to these he added in the sequel the 
counties of Carcassonne and Perche (1257), and a large 
number of cities and castles. At the same time, wise regu- 
lations fix the relations between sovereign and subject, and 
the scale of the feudal hierarchy ; the right of appeal to the 
king, extended and generalized, offers a sure refuge against 
the tyranny of the barons. The promulgation of the ordon- 
nance so celebrated by the title of Establishments of Si. Leto- 
is, gave the nation a regular code, combining the principles 
of the Roman law, the different customs of the monarchy, 
the orders in council of the kings, and the decrees of coun- 
cils. It was the signal of a return towards uniform legisla- 
tion, that unspeakable benefit of modern times. The king 
himself gave the example of the wisest and most paternal 



FRANCE UNDER THE CAPETIANS. 287 

administration of justice, multiplying charters of enfran- 
chisement, developing provincial assemblies, and preparing 
the v^'ay for the organization of the states general, by calling 
the commons to the assemblies of the barons, organizes! as 
parliaments. The history of his reign might be comprised 
in the words of Mueller : " Arms had founded the empire 
of the Franks, but virtue consolidated royalty in France." 

Nor is it posterity alone that gives the name of virtuous 
to St. Lewis. His contemporaries bore testimony to his jus- 
tice, submitting their disputes to his decision as to an unim- 
peachable tribunal, and relying with perfect confidence on 
his disinterestedness and honor. The only spot in this bright 
character was the fatal error of the crusades, and even this 
is so nearly allied to virtue that we rather deplore it than 
condemn. 

258. Philip the Bold. — The consequences of the elevated 
policy of St. Lewis were manifested under his successors. 
Philip the Bold (1270-1285) had returned from Africa with 
the coffin of his father, of several princes of the blood, and 
powerful lords. The inheritance of several of these escheat- 
ed to the royal domain, which had already acquii'ed or re- 
covered the counties of Valois, Poictou, and Toulouse. At 
the same time the king gave an indirect but fatal blow to the 
feudal caste, by authorizing plebeians to purchase fiefs with 
all the rights attached to that form of property. The reign 
of Philip the Bold was also occupied by wars of small im- 
portance, against the count de Foix, who was compelled to do 
homage to the king of France ; against the king of Castile, 
Sancho the Brave, who had deprived Philip's nephews, the 
children of Lacerda, of their rights to the throne ; and against 
Peter IIL of Aragon, who, after the Sicilian vespers, had 
been master of Sicily. These wars continued under his suc- 
cessors (died 1285). 

259. Philip the Fair. — His wars. — His despotism. — Philip 



288 FRANCE UNDER THE CAPETIANS. 

the Fair, after having terminated, by the treaty of Tarascon, 
his fruitless and onerous wars with Spain, cited Edward I. 
of England before the court of peers, and on his refusal to ap- 
pear, pronounced the confiscation of Guyenne. But Edward 
armed the count of Flanders against him, and the French, 
victorious at Fumes (1297), saw their cavalry almost anni- 
hilated at the fatal combat of Tournai (1302). Philip's vic- 
tory at Mons en Puelle did not prevent the Flemings from 
raising another army of sixty thousand men, and he granted 
them an honorable peace (1305). The war with England 
had already been terminated by reference to Boniface VIII. 
(1298), both parties making concessions and abandoning 
their feeble allies. 

These wars exhausted the finances of the French king, 
and led him to some very tyrannical measures. He plun- 
dered the Jews and Lombards, who carried on almost all the 
commerce of the kingdom, stripped the commons of part of their 
plate, falsified the currency, and used every shameful and 
tyrannical expedient for filling his coffers. The people mur- 
mured, but Philip overcame every attempt at resistance, and 
established his despotism by judicious and skilful measures. 
He fortified the royal power by the concurrence of the na- 
tion, called the commons, who as yet had only appeared in 
the king's armies, to discuss the great questions of national 
interest with the bal'ons and clergy, and established the states 
general, which were assembled for the first time in 1302. 
At the same time he introduced into the parliaments, now 
definitively organized as regular and permanent supreme 
courts of justice, the class of civilians or lawyers, a class 
which, though devoted in its origin to the will of the king 
and a blind instrument of his tyranny, accomplished in the 
sequel an important mission, by resisting feudal influence, 
and gradually undei'mining the political power of the clergy. 

260. Quarrel with Boniface VIII. — Process of the Tetn-> 



FRANCE UNDER THE CAPETIANS. 289 

flars. — The insufficiency of the resources he had hitherto 
obtained by his exactions, led Philip to think of taxing the 
possessions of the clergy. From this sprang the famous 
quarrel between the king of France and Boniface VIII. 
Boniface reproached Philip with his injustice and his exac- 
tions ; and even went so far as to menace the independence 
of his crown. Philip, relying upon the support of the states 
general, falsified the papal bull, and replied with insolence. 
The pope had recourse to excommunication, and the king 
sent his chancellor, William of Nogaret, accompanied by a 
Roman exile, Colonna, to brave the pontiff in Italy, Boni- 
face was at Anagni, a small town in the Roman territory. 
Colonna came upon him by surprise, made him prisoner in 
his palace, carried his violence so far as to strike him in the 
presence of Nogaret, and though he was quickly liberated, he 
died a few days after from rage and humiliation. Philip, not 
contented with this shameful vengeance, instituted a scanda- 
lous suit against him after death, and imposed upon his suc- 
cessor a secret condition which was to furnish new food for 
bis avidity. This was the abolition of the order of Templars, 
which was pronounced by the council of Vienne (1312). 
This famous order had acquired a power and wealth which 
alarmed Philip's jealousy, while they inflamed his avidity. 
The Templars were all arrested on the same day throughout 
all France, subjected to an atrocious form of trial, and con- 
demned to be burnt as heretics, with their grand master, 
James Molay (1314). Philip survived this horrible execu- 
tion only a few months. 

261. Reigns of the sons of Philip the Fair. — Extinction 
of the first branch of the Capetians. — Philip the Fair left 
three sons, who succeeded one another rapidly upon the 
throne. 

Lewis the Stubborn (le Hutin) (1314-1316), character, 
ized a two years' reign by vigorous measures against law- 

13 



290 ENGLAND "WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO EDWARD III. 

yers and financiers, the agents of the violent and tyrannical 
policy of his father, and by an edict granting the serfs of the 
royal domain the privilege of redeeming their freedom. 

At the death of John I., a posthumous son of Lewis, who 
lived only a few days, Philip the Long, second son of Philip 
the Fair, was called to the throne (1316-1322), with the 
sanction of the states general, which declared that women 
were excluded from the throne by the Salic law, although it 
says nothing upon this subject. Philip the Long's reign was 
almost wholly consecrated to wise measures of administra- 
tion, which resulted in the enfranchisement of a great num- 
ber of serfs, the correction of the abuses and exactions which 
occurred too frequently in the collection of taxes, and in de- 
ciding the jurisdiction and composition of courts of justice. 

Charles the Fair, Philip's brother (1322-1328), succeed- 
ed him in virtue of the principle which excluded women 
from the throne of France. He won the name of Justiciary, 
by the vigor with which he punished the crimes of the pow- 
erful baron of He Jourdain, whom he had executed, in spite 
of his titles and alliances, and by revoking his brother's un- 
just edicts against lepers and Jews. At the end of his reign 
there was a short war with England. With this prince end- 
ed the first branch of the Capetian dynasty. 



§11. 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE DEATH OF WILLIAM THE 

CONQUEROR TO THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD III, MAGNA 

CHARTA. FIRST CONTESTS BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENG- 
LAND. 

262. Causes of the rivalry between France and England. 
— ^AU the second part of the Middle Ages is fiMed with that 



ENGLAND WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, TO EDWARD III. 291 

famous rivalry between England and France, which cost the 
latter such long and bitter trials. This contest might have 
been foreseen from the day when a vassal of the French 
king won for himself a royal crown, and bqcame as power- 
ful as his suzerain. The king of France, while defending 
his territory against a rival whose domains extended into the 
heart of his kingdom, exacted testimonials of subordination, 
a homage of dependence which wounded the pride of the king 
of England. Thus there was a double cause of discord in 
their relations, too active and too constant to admit of any 
permanent peace or union between them. William the Con- 
queror died, as we have seen, while on the point of marching 
on Paris. Under his sons the contest began anew, and was 
perpetuated almost uninterruptedly through nearly four cen- 
turies. 

263. Quarrels of the sons of William the Conqueror. — 
For a moment after William's death his inheritance was di- 
vided. While his second son, William Rufus (1087), ran to 
seize the crown at Westminster, in violation of the rights of 
his oldest, Robert, the latter was proclaimed duke of Nor- 
mandy at Rouen, and Henry Beauclerc, the youngest, at- 
tempted to maintain his independence in spite of the efforts 
of his two brothers. This prince had been stripped of his 
last fortress, when Robert's departure for the crusade threw 
Normandy into William's hands for the paltry sum of ten 
thousand marcs, which he advanced to his brother to aid him 
in fitting out his expedition. During Robert's absence in the 
Holy Land William died, and Henry seized the crown 
(1100). He tried to win the good will of the Saxons by 
promising to restore the laws of Edward the Confessor, and 
by publishing the cliarta lihertatum. Meanwhile Robert re- 
turned to claim his crown, and after an unsuccessful contest 
(1106), was thrown into prison, where he died. Heniy, re- 
lieved from the fear of a rival, forgot his promises, and the 



292 ENGLAND "WILLIAM THE CONQUEKOR TO EDWARD III. 

yoke, in spite of the intercessions of his wife Matilda the 
good queen, fell as heavy upon the Saxons as before. " If I 
reign," said his son, " I will make those Saxons draw the 
plough like oxen." Fortunately he did not reign, and his 
early death by shipwreck was looked upon by the Saxons as 
a vengeance of heaven upon his evil intentions. At the same 
time a son of the unfortunate Robert, William Cliton, took 
refuge in France, and Lewis the Fat offered to assist him in 
reconquering his paternal domains on the continent. But 
the battle of Brenneville opened, by a reverse, the contest 
between England and France. Heniy retained his posses- 
sions, while William, who had become count of Flanders, 
was killed in a revolt of his new subjects. 

264. Reign of Stephen. — Power of feudality. — At the 
death of Henry, the throne belonged to his daughter Matilda, 
widow of the emperor Henry, and wife of Geoffrey Planta- 
genet, count of Anjou. The barons preferred Stephen, count 
of Boulogne, grandson on his mother's side of William the 
Conqueror (1135). A bloody contest broke out between the 
rivals. Stephen, victorious over the Scotch, who had declar- 
ed for Matilda (1138), then defeated and taken prisoner, 
could only preserve his ci'own by naming for his successor 
Henry, the son of his rival (1153), This troubled reign 
was the triumph of the pitiless Norman feudality, and Eng- 
land was crushed by a frightful oppression. " In the times 
of this king," says the Saxon chronicler, " all was dissension, 
misery, rapine. The rich soon rose up against him. They 
built castles to defend themselves, and filled these castles with 
the demons of hell. They laid hold on every body whom 
they suspected of having any property, and even women in 
childbirth ; threw them into prison to extort from them gold 
and silvei", and made them suffer indescribable tortures : 
some they hung by the feet, making them breathe a filthy 
smoke ; others by the thumbs or by the beard, tying coats of 



ENGLAND WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO EDWARD III. 293 

mail to their feet : they buried them in dungeons with adders 
and toads : thousands were left to die of hunger. You might 
travel a whole day without meeting a man in a village, or 
seeing an acre of cultivated ground. To cultivate the land 
was like tilling the sea." This lasted during the nineteen 
years of Stephen's reign. 

265. Reign of Henry II. Plantagenet. — Thomas a Beck- 
et. — During all this time England and France were at peace; 
but a new cause of jealousy and rivalry was about to give 
rise to more violent disputes. Henry II. Plantagenet had 
married the divorced wife of Lewis VII., Eleanor of Guy- 
enne (1152), who brought him in dower the finest provinces 
of the south of France. A league which the king of France 
formed agains,t England, and Henry's attempts against the 
counts of Toulouse and Brittany, had already manifested 
the hostile dispositions of the two princes, when the famous 
quarrel broke out between the king of England and Thomas 
a Becket. 

Henry II., who wished to annihilate the excessive influ- 
ence which William's policy had given to the Norman cler- 
gy, had given the archbishopric of Canterbury to one of his 
creatures, a debauched courtier, whom he hoped to make the 
servile instrument of his designs (1162). But no sooner was 
Thomas a Becket invested with his new dignity, than a sud- 
den reform in his life and manners showed that he felt the 
importance of his mission. Henry, enraged at finding him 
an intrepid defender of the privileges of the church, compel- 
led him to quit England and seek an asylum in France. 
Lewis VII. immediately took him under his protection. Al- 
exander III. refused to consent to his deposition, and Henry, 
compelled to an apparent reconciliation, permitted him to 
return to his church (1170). But Thomas, who knew that 
the vengeance of the king was not satisfied, had asked of the 
pope, in setting out for England, the prayers for the dying. 



294 ENGLAND WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO EDWARD III. 

A short time after his return, Henry, on learning a new act 
of opposition to the royal will, exclaimed in a passion, " I am 
surrounded by men whom I have loaded with favors : have I 
no friend ?" His wish was understood. A few days after- 
wards four of the king's household assaulted Becket in church, 
and killed him at the foot of the altar. " May my blood 
restore liberty and peace to the church," were his dying 
words (1170, Dec. 29). A general cry of indignation broke 
forth against the murderers, who, despairing of pardon, went 
to die in the Holy Land. The king of England himself made 
a pilgrimage to the spot where his victim had been buried, 
and submitted to be flagellated by a monk, and pray a day 
and a night at the martyr's tomb. But he consoled himself 
for this humiliation by the submission of Brittany to his su- 
premacy, if not to his sovereignty, and by the conquest of Ire- 
land, which was never more to shake off the English yoke. 

266. Revolt of the sons of Henry II. — The revolts of the 
sons of the king of England, fomented by the king of France, 
excited new troubles in the kingdom. Henry, the eldest, 
son-in-law of the king of France, claimed an extensive appa- 
nage in England. Richard wished to make himself inde- 
pendent in Aquitania : Geoffrey pretended to the duchy of 
Brittany. Their mother, the inconstant Eleanor, irritated at 
the culpable relations of her husband with the beautiful 
Rosamond Clifford, encouraged her sons in their projects of 
revolt, and the king of Scotland, who hoped to gain by their 
dissensions, sent an army to assist them. 

This war was only interrupted for a moment by the suc- 
cess of the king against the Scotch, and the mediation of the 
Holy See, to begin again between the three brothers with re- 
doubled violence, and last till the death of Henry and Geof- 
frey (1178-1186). Richard, excited by the intrigues of the 
new king of France, the young but skilful Philip Augustus, 
turned once more his sacrilegious arms against his father, 



ENGLAND WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO EDWARD III. 295 

and Henry, compelled to submit to a humiliating treaty, and 
abandoned by John, the youngest of his sons, died of grief at 
the castle of Chinon (1189). 

2G7. Richard I. Coeur de Lion. — At the news of the fall 
of Jerusalem, Henry II. had taken the cross with Philip Au- 
gustus. The adventurous Richard I. (1189-1199) accom- 
plished with ardor this vow of a father whose death was in 
part owing to his ingratitude. The crusade was preached 
throughout England, and the blind zeal of the people broke 
out, at first, by a frightful massacre of the Jews, who were 
slaughtered or burned in almost all the principal cities of the 
kingdom. The king set out with his knights, after having 
made provisions for the government during his absence. His 
almost fabulous exploits are well known, as well as the mis- 
fortunes which attended his return. The duke of Austria, 
into whose hands he had fallen, was compelled to give him 
up to the emperor, who sold him his liberty for a hundred 
thousand marcs of silver. Richard consented at the same 
time to hold his kingdom as a fief of the emperor, a striking 
contrast to the dignified and noble conduct of St. Lewis, when 
a prisoner in Egypt. During his absence, the king of France 
had invaded Normandy, and John usurped the royal authority 
in England. But the cowardly usurper did not dare to face 
the anger of the unchained lion, and to merit his pardon, he 
allowed the Irish garrison which Philip had sent him to be 
massacred. A violent war broke out between France and 
England, which was ended by the intervention of Innocent 
III. and a truce of five years (1197). The hero of the third 
crusade lost his life like an obscure paladin before a petty 
fortress of Limousin. 

268. Murder of Arthur of Brittany. — Usurpation of John. 
— By right of descent the crown belonged to Arthur of Brit- 
tany, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet ; but Richai'd's brother 
John was proclaimed in England, by the influence of his 



296 ENGLAND — WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO EDWARD III. 

mother Eleanor, and Arthur, who had been made prisoner, 
with several noblemen whom the barbarous conqueror suf- 
fered to die of hunger, was conducted to Rouen and thrown 
into a dungeon. " In the middle of the night, in the week 
before Easter" (1202), says an old chronicler, "John, urged 
on by drunkenness and an evil spirit, killed his nephew with 
his own hand, because the hand of his squire trembled, and 
threw the body into the Seine ; and it was for this that he 
became the object of the blackest hatred of all the human 
race." 

The king of France instantly seized the occasion, and 
declaring himself avenger of the murdered orphan, summon- 
ed John, as duke of Normandy and Aquitania, to come and 
answer before the court of peers, for the murder of Arthur, 
duke of Brittany, rear- vassal of the kingdom of France, whom 
Philip, his sovereign, was bound to protect. John refusing 
to appear, judgment was given against him, as in a state of 
contumacy, and the sentence, which though dictated perhaps 
by ambition, was in strict conformity with feudal law, strip- 
ped England of Touraine, Maine, Anjou (1203), Normandy 
(1205), and Poictou(1206). At the same time the thunders 
of the Holy See struck the parricidal king, and Philip was 
upon the point of making an invasion on England in execu- 
tion of the pontifical decree, when John disarmed the pope by 
resigning his states and receiving them again as a fief of the 
church for a tribute of a thousand marcs of silver (1213). 

Philip was compelled to spare the prince, who had de- 
clared himself the repentant son and faithful vassal of the 
church, and respect the patrimony of St. Peter. 

269. Magna Charia. — Revolt of the English iarons, — 
But John's reign was neither happier nor more tranquil. 
The English barons, tired of the tyranny of a prince whose 
cowardice was only equalled by his incapacity, formed a 
league to enforce the solemn recognition of the rights of the 



ENGLAND — WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO EDWARD III. 297 

nation. They drew up the celebrated manifesto known by 
the name of Magna Charta, in which it was laid" down as a 
principle, that no war tax could be levied except with the 
consent of the ecclesiastical and temporal barons and other 
royal vassals, gi'eat or small ; that no freeman should be 
arrested, imprisoned, taken from his manor, or exiled, except in 
consequence of a legal decision of his peers, and in force 
of the law of the land ; that every fine should be in propor- 
tion to the offence ; that the utensils necessary to a man in 
the exercise of his profession, the arms of a gentleman, the 
wares of a merchant, the cattle and tools of a laborer, should 
not be liable to seizure ; and finally, that no governor nor 
functionary of the crown should take from any body what- 
ever his property, or impose tribute labor by his own decree. 
Still the royal prerogative was untouched, and the great vas- 
sals were bound to acquit themselves of the same obligations 
towards the crown which they could require from their rear- 
vassals. 

This act, which established for the first time, in a fixed 
and certain manner, some equality of rights between all 
classes of freemen, and which is still regarded as the corner- 
stone of English liberty, was presented to the king, in the 
presence of all the lords, by the bishop of Canterbury, and 
signed by the prince and all the nobles of the nation (1215). 
Yet John ventured to break his solemn pledge, and furious 
at the humiliation that he had received, levied an army to 
ravage the lands of the barons. The indignant barons 
wrested the crown from the perjured king, and offered it to 
Philip of France, son of Philip Augustus (1216), But this 
prince's partiality towards his own countrymen wounded the 
pride of the English nation, who compelled Lewis to yield 
the sceptre to Henry III., John's son, as soon as the death 
of the father had appeased the hatred of his former subjects 
(1217). 

13* 



298 ENGLAND "WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO EDWARD III. 

270. Henry III. — Statutes of Oxford. — The vigorous 
firmness of the regent, Henry de Burgh, during the minority 
of Henry III., had put an end to internal disorders ; and a 
solemn confirmation of magna charta seemed to promise a 
prosperous and glorious reign, by reconciling the crown and 
the nation, when the young prince, receiving in 1227 the 
power into his own hands, blighted all these brilliant expec- 
tations. Unsuccessful in his wars against St. Lewis (1241), 
he returned home with the odious surname of coward, excit- 
ing the indignation of the great by giving an undue influence 
to the relations of his wife, Eleanor of Provence, and insult- 
ing the misery of the people by a blind prodigality. The 
massacre of the Jews and confiscation of their wealth could 
not fill his exhausted coffers. The nation grew weary. The 
bishops pronounced terrible anathemas against any one that 
should dare to violate the liberties of the kingdom ; and the 
barons, under the guidance of Simoii of Leicestei', count of 
Montfort, took up arms, and imposed upon the king a parlia- 
ment which deserved the name of mad : first and violent 
essay of representative government in England (1258). 
Twenty-four barons were intrusted with the general adminis- 
tration of the kingdom, with the power of redressing wrongs 
and reforming the state, but subject however to the approba- 
tion of parliament, which was to meet three times a year. 
Henry swore to the statutes of Oxford. Royalty seemed 
abolished. Vainly did Henry obtain from the pope a dispen- 
sation from his oath. Vainly was the mediation of St. Lew- 
is, whose virtue made him the arbiter of all Europe, inter- 
posed between the parties. It was necessary to have recourse 
to arms. Aided by the London militia, Montfort's troops 
conquered : Henry III. and his son fell into the hands of the 
enemy, and their chief reigned over England in the name 
of the captive king (1264). Sustaining his power by the 
concurrence of the representatives of the commons, the 



ENGLAND — WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO EDWARD III. 299 

young and valiant Edward, who had escaped from his pris- 
on, avenged his father and stifled the revolt by the victory 
of Evesham, which cost Montfort his life : the rebels were 
proscribed, but all Henry's efforts to make parliament resign 
the liberties which they had won were fruitless. 

271. Reign of Edward I. — Contest with Scotland. — This 
wretched reign ended in 1272, while the king's son was dis- 
playing his courage against the infidels. The aim of the 
new king's policy (Edward I., 1272-1307) was to unite the 
whole of Great Britain under his sceptre. Wales, subjected 
to a nominal suzerainty, preserved its ancient independence 
by the side of the royal domains. But the predictions of her 
bards, and the courage of her chiefs, were unavailing when 
opposed to Edward's skill : the last of the Welsh princes was 
put to an ignominious death : his limbs were sent to the prin- 
cipal cities of the kingdom, and Wales groaned, like Ire- 
land, under the weight of a long tyranny (1276). 

The same fate seemed reserved for Scotland. The cow- 
ardly Baliol, menaced by the pretensions of Edward, came 
to swear fealty and homage (1292), and soon atoned for a 
moment of energy by a still more absolute submission. A 
brilliant campaign made the king of England master of all 
Scotland (1296). But a hero rose to wash out the shame of 
his country in blood. While Bajiol languished in captivity, 
a young man, William Wallace, gathered around him a band 
of hardy followers, and began by bold excursions a series of 
incredible exploits. His band soon grew to an army : many 
nobles rallied around him in defence of the national cause : 
the English army was defeated and compelled to evacuate 
Scotland (1297), and the victors extended their ravages into 
the northern provinces of England. Wallace was named 
regent, and could he have united the country, might have 
saved it. But petty jealousies undermined his power, which 
he was compelled to resign, and the defeat oi Falkirk (1198) 



300 ENGLAND — WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO EDWARD III. 

decided the first act of the drama. Wallace took refuge in 
the mountains, where he was betrayed by one of his own 
party, Monteith, carried to London, and publicly executed. 
A new outbreak (1302) cost the Scots the forfeiture of their 
laws, their charters, and their privileges. 

But the patriotic enthusiasm of Wallace had left its traces 
in the hearts of his countrymen, and raised them up a new 
avenger. Robert Bruce, the powerful count of Carrick, es- 
caped by a skilful artifice from Edward's court, where he 
was held in a sort of honorable captivity, called the Scotch 
to arms, and in spite of two defeats was crowned king of Scot- 
land (1306). Edward died on his march against him, and 
sullied his last day by ordering the massacre of the young 
Scotch, whom he held in hostage (1307). The wars of this 
prince against France led to no important result, serving only 
to confirm him in the possession of Guyenne. 

272. Edivard II. — Independence of Scotland. — Weakness 
of her government. — The firmness of Edward I., which too 
often degenerated into barbarity, had held England submis- 
sive. But when Edward II. (1307-1327) was seen leading 
his army shamefully back from the frontiers of Scotland, and 
giving up the government to an unworthy favorite, Peter Ga- 
veston, the indignant barons compelled the king to confirm 
the charter anew, and banish the hated minister. 

Gaveston fell into the hands of the lords. " You have 
caught the fox," said one of them ; " if you let him get 
away, you will have to begin your hunt again." He was 
put to death, without Edward's daring to say a word to save 
his favorite (1312). 

A reconciliation, bought by baseness and cowardice, did 
not add much to the strength of the king. Compelled to 
take up arms against the Scotch, who had invaded England, 
he called in the aid of all the adventurers of Eui'ope, by 
promising to parcel out Scotland among them. A hundred 



CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND DURING THIS PERIOD. 301 

thousand men assembled under his banners : but still he was 
defeated at Bannocklurn by the little army of Robert Bruce 
(1314). For a moment Bruce placed his own brother on the 
throne of Ireland. A few years afterwards Edward took 
advantage of the troubles that agitated Scotland, to attempt 
another expedition. But the battle of Byland was as 
unfortunate as that of Bannockburn, and Bruce, now old 
and infirm, illustrated the last year of his glorious career by 
compelling Edward II. to sign a treaty recognizing the full 
and entire independence of Scotland and her crown (peace 
of Northampton, 1328). 

Edward was as unsuccessful in governing as in making 
war. After Gaveston, another favorite, Hugh Spencer, ob- 
tained the control of the feeble prince (1315), and the queen, 
Isabella of France, who, according to Froissart, was one of 
the most beautiful women in the world, indignant at her hus- 
band's desertion, joined the barons against him and his favor- 
ite. An army raised in France and commanded by the 
queen's lover, young Roger Mortimer, defeated the royal 
troops and made the king prisoner. The unhappy Edward, 
after having seen his favorite killed, was solemnly deposed 
(1327), condemned by his guilty wife to a frightful captivity, 
and as the ill treatment which he received did not hasten his 
death rapidly enough, two wretches were employed to put 
him to death in a manner too horrid to be described. 



§ III. 

HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND DURING THIS 

PERIOD. REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COMMONS IN PARLIA- 

MENT. 

273. Character of feudality in England. — The harons ex- 
tend the national liberty. — In England, as in France, the 



302 CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND DTTEING THIS PERIOD. 

enfranchisement of the commons exercises a great influence 
upon the development of the national constitution : but this 
revolution bears a special character. In France, feudality, 
founded upon the ancient customs of Germany, and gradual- 
ly increasing by the wants of the epoch, had rendered itself 
independent of the sovereign power, which it had over- 
balanced and nearly annihilated. From this, English feudal- 
ity, though imported from France, was essentially different. 
Suddenly planted in the English soil by the conqueror him- 
self, it was established there for the benefit of the crown ; 
being directed, as its principal aim, to strengthening the rela- 
tions of submission between the prince and his vassals, and 
introducing a habit of subjection in the higher grades of the 
feudal hierarchy, which in France was to be found only in 
the lower. The English baronies, purposely divided, bore 
no resemblance to those vast principalities which comprised 
the greater part of the French territory. The lordships of 
England, held in virtue of an actual concession of the sove- 
reign, were uniformly characterized by a cei'tain degree of 
subordination and dependence, while the domains of the great 
French vassals, many of which had been acquired without 
the intervention of the crown, and were even more extensive 
than the royal domains, barely acknowledged in the head of 
the state a nominal suzerainty. Thus in France it was sub- 
ject royalty, that sought in the commons a counterpoise for 
the aristocracy, and united itself with the nation to free both 
king and people from the tyranny of the lords. In England 
the movement came from the nobility, who, laboring under 
the oppression of a superior power, united with the nation to 
form a constitution. It was for this that the English barons, 
in their contest with John, demanded a guaranty for the lib- 
erty of the people. And perhaps, also, it is to this original 
distinction that we ought to attribute the violent reaction 
which was one day to manifest itself in France against the 



CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND DURING THIS PERIOD. 303 

supremacy of the nobles, and in England that duration of 
the aristocracy, which, though somewhat undermined, still 
continues to the present day. 

The first phase of the constitutional history of England 
was accomplished at the moment in which magna charta 
(1215) and the statutes of Oxford proclaimed in general 
terms the limits of royal authority, and established the prin- 
ciple of the nation's right to take a part in the government; 
but without fixing any legal and pacific means for the exer- 
cise of rights. From that time the crown was subjected to 
control, although it could not yet be exercised except by 
force and an open resistance to the arbitrary will of the so- 
vereign. 

274. Organization of parliament. — The task of the second 
epoch was to establish the equilibrium of these powers, to set 
up against the royal prerogative an energetic and legal ac- 
tion, no longer intrusted to a particular class, but fortified 
and extended by the actual intervention of the representatives 
of the nation : the complete organization of parliament. 

There had been great assemblies in England under Wil- 
liam the Conqueror and his successors, but they were exclu- 
sively composed of the immediate vassals and tenants of the 
crown, united, according to the usage of all Christendom, 
with the bishop, and were as yet only the councils of the 
king. The national representation was confined to a few 
deputies of no personal weight, and who were admitted to 
parlianaent without any share in its deliberations. Knights 
of the shire were called to it under William himself and under 
Henry III. ; but some only to explain to the prince the ancient 
laws of the country, and others to inform against abuses, and 
lay before Parliament the result of their inquiries. (1258.) 
The representative system was not really established in 
England till the Count of Montfort gave the deputies of the 
commons a share in the deliberations of Parliament. 



304 CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND DURING THIS PERIOD. 

275. Progress of the Commons. — Feudal oppression had 
weighed heavily upon the cities of England after the conquest. 
An individual tax, imposed upon every inhabitant, put him at 
the mercy of his lord, who could multiply his burthens and 
increase his tributes at will. The conversion of individual 
tributes into a perpetual rent, due from the whole city, came 
at last as a guaranty to private property and a protection 
for industry and commerce. From that time the cities, 
growing in wealth and strength, began to purchase an exemp- 
tion from their dues as vassals, and obtain charters of enfran- 
chisement from the king. That of the community of London, 
which, in the 12th century, contained more than forty thou- 
sand inhabitants, goes back to the year 1103, after the acces- 
sion of Henry I. Thenceforth the title of citizen of that great 
city became a title of nobility. Several barons applied for 
admission to the community, and its privileges were expressly 
sanctioned by the magna charta. Among the twenty-five 
barons who were to watch over the execution of it, was the 
mayor of London. Henry IL granted many other municipal 
charters. The organization resembled that of the French 
communities in many respects. Thus, Henry L had granted 
the members of the community of London, independently of 
their fiscal and commercial immunities, the right of choosing 
their sheriffs and judges, to the exclusion of all foreign ju- 
risdiction. This right of election did not become general 
till the reign of John. For a long time, however, there had 
been in the principal cities free associations, religious or lay 
corporations, which administered their own affairs, and re- 
ceived a rapid development as soon as they had been con- 
firmed by the charters of the crown. (') 

(*) Similar efforts were made at this period in several countries, and 
with equal success. In Germany, the emperors of the house of Fraiico- 
nia rewarded the fidelity of the cities of the Rhine by the concession of 
a great number of municipal charters. The communities of Lombardy 



CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND DURING THIS PERIOD. 305 

276. The Deputies of the Commons in Parliament. — 
Simon de Monf/ort, in his contest with Henry III., felt what 
strength the support of these powerful cities might give to the 
party which he led; and on the 12th September, 1264, letters 
of convocation, addressed to all the sheriffs of the kingdom, 
enjoined them to elect and send to parliament two knights for 
each county, two citizens for each city, two burgesses for 
each market-town. Whatever the views of Simon of Mont- 
fort may have been, this great innovation, prepared by the 
development of the commons, was destined to survive the fall 
of its author. The imperious Edward I., conqueror of Eve- 
sham, after having proscribed and annihilated the party of 
the rebel, was compelled to respect a prerogative which the 
English nation was never to lose. It was he who made the 
deputies of the boroughs a permanent element of parliament. 
Thenceforth the burgesses shared with the lay and ecclesias- 
tical peers of the kingdom the right of voting supplies and 
sanctioning laws. 

soon became strong enough to resist the imperial supremacy. The con- 
federations which were formed between many of the commercial cities of 
Germany are unequivocal proofs of the kind of independence which the 
cities had won. 

In Flanders, history shows us several communities, and in particular 
those of Ghent and Bruges, redoubtable even to foreign kings. 

In Spain, too, the enfranchisement of the communities was extensive. 
It ascends to a very remote period, since at the beginning of the eleventh 
century, we find mention of municipal councils in several cities ; and in 
the twelfth, the deputies of cities appear in the Cortes. The Cortes of 
Aragon refuesd to recognize any right in the king either to make a law 
or establish a tax without their concurrence. 

In Italy, the formation of municipal governments and institution of 
chartered towns, is closely connected with the most flourishing period of 
Italian history. It is still a question whether they were any thing more 
than a revival of the old communities of ancient Italy. 



CHAPTER XYL 

FEANCE AISTD EISTGLAND DUEIISra THE SECOXD 
PERIOD OF THEIR EIVALET. 



SUMMARY. 

§ I. Character of the second period of the contest between France and 
England. — Edward III. — Philip of Valois. — War of Scotland, Flanders, 
and Brittany. — Combat of Sluis : battle of Crecy. — John the Good. — 
Power of the states general in France. — Invasion of the territory by the 
English armies. — Internal troubles. — Battle of Poictiers : captivity of 
John the Good. Imprudent reforms attempted by the states. — The jac- 
querie. — Treaty of Bretigny. — Charles V. — E.xploits of da Guesclin. — 
Truce of Bruges. — Death of Edward HI. — The constitution acquires 
regularity under his reign. — Popular movements under Richard II. — 
Doctrines of WicklifTe — Re verses of Richard on the continent. — Henry HI. 
of Lancaster. — Insurrections in England. — Accession of Charles VI. in 
France. — The Maillotins; the Truchins. — Tyranny of the king's uncles. 
— Derangement of Charles VI. — Assassination of the duke of Orleans. — 
Rivalry of the Burgundians and Armagnacs. — Anarchy. — Civil war. — 
Invasion of France. — Battle of Agincourt. — Assassination of John the 
Bold. — Treaty of Troyes, which gives up France to the English. — 
Charles VH. and Henry VI. — Reverses of Charles VH — Joan of Arc. 
• — Exploits of this heroine. — Charles crowned at Rheims. — Expulsion of 
the English. — Depression of feudalism. — Progress of the royal power. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND — SECOND PERIOD OF RIVALRY. 307 



§1. 



HISTORY OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF 
PHILIP OP VALOIS AND EDWARD III. TO THE EXPULSION OF 

THE ENGLISH. DEPRESSION OF FEUDALISM IN FRANCE. 

CONVOCATION OF THE STATES GENERAL. REPRESENTATIVES 

OF THE ENGLISH COMMONS IN PARLIAMENT. — CIVIL DIS- 
SENSIONS IN THE TWO KINGDOMS. 

277. Edward III. — Philip of Valois. — Their rivalry. — 
The second phase of the rivalry of France and England, 
known as the hundred years'' war, begins with the accession 
of Edward III. in England, and the family of Valois in 
France, and extends, through an alternation of frightful re- 
verses and brilliant victories, to the end of the middle ages. 
The contest of this period becomes more general, and is car- 
ried on on a larger scale. It is no longer a mere question 
of cities and provinces : but the nationality of France is at 
stake, and the king of England aims at nothing less than the 
French throne. 

Edward III., who had been proclaimed king of England 
during the captivity of the unhappy Edward II. (1327), laid 
claim to the inheritance of Charles IV. by the right of his 
mother, Isabel of France. The states general (1328), con- 
forming to their previous decisions concerning the rights of 
females to the throne, decided in favor of Philip of Valois, 
descendant by the male line of Philip the Bold, and Edward 
did homage for the duchy of Guyenne. But a quarrel like 
this could not be decided by the sentence of a tribunal, and 
the harmony of the two rivals was any thing but sincere. 
The Scotch, at war with Edward, who was vainly trying to 
drive away David Bruce, in order to replace Edward Baliol, 
had Philip of Valois for their ally. The king of England 



308 FRANCE AND ENGLAND SECOND PERIOD OF RIVALRY. 

gave an asylum to the rebel, Robert of Artois, and excited 
the Flemings against the French. 

278. Wars in Flanders, in Brittany, and in France.-^ 
Battle of Crecy.— The mediation of Pope Benedict XIL 
could not long retard the rupture which broke out as a con- 
sequence of the war already begun with Flanders. In the 
first year of his reign Philip had fought a bloody but indeci- 
sive battle under the walls of Cassel, with the Flemings, who 
had revolted against their count. A few years afterwards, 
James Artevelt, a brewer by trade, had excited a new revolt, and 
Edward, declaring in favor of the insurgents, went in person 
to their assistance, taking first the title of king of France. 
The destruction of the French fleet near fort Sluis (1340) 
was the great event of this first war, which was soon ended 
by a truce. But two years afterwards, hostilities were re- 
vived by the question of the succession of Brittany, and 
Philip took the part of Jane of Penthievre, while Jane of 
Montfort, protected by the king of England, defended, says 
Froissart, with the courage of a man and the heart of a lion, 
the pretended rights of Montfort, her husband. This war of 
the two Janes lasted till the treaty of Guerande (1365), which 
secured the possession of Brittany to the house of Montfort. 

The year 1346 saw, at the same time, the count of Derby 
invade the south of France, and Edward, accompanied by 
his young son, i\\e prince of Wales, land on the coast of Nor- 
mandy, and advance to the environs of the capital. Edward soon 
retreated before the French army. But the rash valor of the 
French knights compelled Philip to engage in a disadvanta- 
geous position, the fatal battle of Crecy, which cost the life 
of the king's brother, of several princes, and more than thir- 
ty thousand soldiers (1346). This disaster was followed by 
the taking of the important city of Calais, the inhabitants of 
which, having irritated their conqueror by an obstinate de- 
fence of a year, were indebted for their lives to the heroic 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND — SECOND PERIOD OF RIVALRY. 309 

devotion of Eustathius of St. Pierre (1347). A little before, 
the Scotch, allies of the French, had been defeated with the 
loss of fifteen hundred men, in a great battle, in which the 
king with several of the principal nobles were taken prison, 
ers. 

Philip was obliged to sue for peace (1347). His king- 
dom was exhausted by a bloody war, ravaged by famine and 
the plague, and scarcely less so by the exactions of all kinds 
to which he had had recourse in order to replenish his 
empty treasury. Disasters of every species seemed to mark 
the opening of this epoch, so disastrous for France, and for 
which the acquisition of Dauphiny and the lordship of Mont- 
pellier were an inadequate compensation. 

279. John the Good. — Battle of Poictiers. — Captivity of 
the king. — John the Good, Philip's successor (1350-1364), 
appealed to the enthusiasm of the nation, and obtained from 
the states general large supplies, but only on condition that 
they should be allowed to superintend the employment of 
them, and should be assembled regularly every year (1355). 
But Artois, Languedoc, and Guyenne were all invaded at 
once, while the kingdom was agitated by the intrigues of 
Charles the Bad, king of Navarre. 

Still the Black Prince had imprudently advanced at the 
head of twelve thousand men into the heart of France, where 
John, with fifty thousand men at his command, might easily 
have crushed him. But at Poictiers, as at Crecy, the want 
of discipline and rash impetuosity of the French nobility 
caused the loss of the battle, and John, with a large number 
of his nobles, fell into the hands of the enemy (1356). 

The king's captivity threw the power into the hands of 
Charles the Dauphin, only nineteen years old, who was 
pressed at the same time by the attacks of the English and 
the unreasonable reclamations of the states genei'al, who 
chose this unpropitious moment for building up their own 



310 FRANCE AND ENGLAND — SECOND PERIOD OP RIVALRY. 

authority at the expense of that of the crown. The dauphin 
could only obtain the necessary supplies by releasing the 
king of Navarre, chief of all the factions, whom John 
had thrown into prison, and accepting a council composed 
of four bishops, twelve knights, and twelve burgesses, to 
watch over the administration. France, paralyzed by her 
civil troubles, was saved from the English by Edward's own 
exhaustion, which compelled him to grant a truce of two 
years (1357). 

280. Anarchy in France. — The jacquerie (peasantry). — 
Treaty of Bretigny. — The internal fermentation broke out 
with double strength. The development of the commons, 
the formation of a middle class, which stood between the 
nobility and the serfs, naturally led men to insist upon 
the consecration of the rights which they had acquired. 
The third estate, which had grown powerful in the states 
general, protested, under the guidance of Stephen Marcel, 
provost of the merchants, against the increase of taxes and 
the arbitrary exercise of power, and without considering the 
dangers by which the state was menaced from without, en- 
deavored to get possession of the government. A powerful 
party manifested the intention of raising to the throne the 
king of Navarre, representative of the female branch of the 
Capets. At the same time, in the lower ranks of society, the 
enfranchisement of the serfs, a work which had been slowly 
begun, was changed, all of a sudden, in the hands of the 
jacquerie (peasantry), into a territorial revolt against the 
whole social order (1358). Edward pounced upon a prey 
which all these divisions seemed to throw into his hands : but 
the cold and skilful policy of the dauphin had already tri- 
umphed over internal disorders. The Jacques, who had rav- 
aged sevei'al provinces with fire and sword, had been pur- 
sued like wild beasts and slaughtered on all sides. Marcel, 
after having pi'oclaimed Charles king of France, and put to 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND SECOND PERIOD OF RIVALRY. 311 

death several of the dauphin's most faithful servants, had 
been killed by the alderman Maillard, just as he vi^as upon 
the point of delivering up Paris to the English. The dau- 
phin was recalled by the people of Paris, and meeting Ed- 
ward with a resistance for which he was wholly unprepared, 
decided him to accept the treaty of Bretigny (1360), which 
restored the king to liberty, by the cession of all the provinces 
of ancient Aquitania and several other lordships. 

France gained nothing by the king's deliverance. Rav- 
aged by the soldiers of both parties, who finding themselves 
out of employment, overran and desolated the provinces un- 
der the names of routiers {men of the road) and great compa- 
nies, she saw John return to England to take the place of one 
of his sons, who had been left as a hostage and had fled. 
The king died soon after this magnanimous act of good faith, 
leaving the throne to a son who repaired all the faults and all 
the misfortunes of his reign. 

281. Reign of Charles V. the Wise. — Scarcely was John 
dead in captivity (1364), when the valor of a hero, the Bri- 
ton du Guesclin, punished Charles the Bad, who was defeated 
at Cocherel and compelled to abandon all his pretensions. A 
prisoner in the battle of Auray, which was followed by the 
treaty of Guerande (1365), du Guesclin recovered his liber- 
ty to free the kingdom from the great companies, which he 
led to Spain, where, in spite of all the efforts of the prince 
of Castile, he dethroned Peter the Cruel in favor of Henry 
of Transtamare (v. ch. xviii.). Soon Charles V., declaring 
himself protector of the southern provinces, oppressed by 
Edward's son, called England to account for the long success 
of her arms. The duke of Anjou, one of the king's brothers, 
retook the greater part of Aquitania. At the same time, 
the duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold, faithful to the pru- 
dent tactics which the king had prescribed, held in check the 
English general, Robert Knoll, who burnt even the villages 



812 FRANCE AND ENGLAND — SECOND PERIOD OF RIVALRY. 

in the neighborhood of Paris, without being able to force his 
adversary to a battle, till the valiant du Guesglin, who had 
been named constable of the French armies, compelled him 
to a precipitate retreat. While the Castilian marine destroys 
the English fleet before Rochelle (1372), du Guesclin invades 
Poictou, and drives beyond sea the protegee of the English, 
the duke of Montfort, whom the death of his rival, Charles 
of Blois, had left sole master of Brittany. All the conquests 
of France are confirmed by the treaty of Bruges, a worthy 
reparation for the treaty of Bretigny. Edward III., governed 
in his old age by unworthy courtiers, ends in the midst of 
reverses a reign which had begun with so much splendor 
(1377). 

282. Internal history of England under Edward III. — 
This epoch of English history is memorable in several res- 
pects. At the moment in which the generous but ill-regu- 
lated efforts of the states of France had vainly attempted the 
conquest of their national liberties, the English constitution 
had obtained a regular development, in spite of the despotic 
pretensions of Edward III. Parliament had been distinctly 
divided into two houses, and enforced the recognition of the 
three essential principles of the English government : the il- 
legality of taxes levied without the consent of the commons, 
the necessity of the concurrence of the two houses to change 
a law, and finally, the right of the commons to inquire into 
abuses and impeach ministers. The good parliament, which 
assembled the fiftieth year of Edward III.'s reign, solemnly 
consecrated this triple and important prerogative (1376). 

283. Political and religious troubles under Richard II. and 
Henry IV. — The popular movement continued with still 
greater violence under the young Richard II. (1377-1399), 
the feeble successor of the powerful and energetic Edward 
III. While the king of France and his valiant constable, 
profiting by the diversion effected by Robert Stuart, who had 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND — SECOND PERIOD OF RIVALRY. 313 

become king of Scotland (1371-1390), were wresting from 
the English their last possessions in Normandy, Aquitania, 
and Picardy, the serfs of England were demanding, sword 
in hand, the abolition of slavery, and Great Britain also had 
her jacquerie. " A foolish priest of Kent," says Froissart, 
" had preached to the peasants, that at the beginning of the 
world there were no slaves, and that consequently nobody 
could be reduced to slavery, unless he had betrayed his lord 
as Lucifer had betrayed God." The reclamations of the 
insurgents were answered by massacres. Religious troubles 
soon followed. Wickliffe (towards 1378) taught new doc- 
trines concerning ecclesiastical power, the rights of the 
church, the monks and friars, and various other claims and 
institutions of the church of Rome. This was the celebrated 
sect of the Lollards, which the clergy sought in vain to sup- 
press, and which, transplanted into Bohemia, gave the first 
signal of the great and glorious reformation of the sixteenth 
century. 

Richard, stripped of nearly all his continental possessions, 
had just obtained peace by marrying Isabella of France, and 
giving up the ports of Cherburg and Brest, when the general 
discontent, fomented by Henry IV. of Lancaster, overthrew 
the unfortunate prince, who was put to death secretly and re- 
placed by his assassin (1400). The continual insurrections 
of the lords, who in Northumberland and Wales fought, as 
they said, "to sustain the just cause of King Richard, if he 
was still alive, to avenge him, if he was dead," and the bloody 
persecution of the Lollards, filled the greater part of Henry's 
reign. But France was no longer in a condition to profit by 
the dissensions of her rival. 

284. Charles VI. — His derangement. — Period of disas- 
ters and anarchy. — The last year of the reign of Charles V. 
had been troubled by the insurrections of Languedoc, Flan- 
ders, and Brittany. At the accession of the young Charles 

14 



314 FRANCE AND ENGLAND — SECOND PERIOD OF RIVALRY. 

VI. (1380), his uncles, the dukes of Anjou, Berry, and Bur- 
gundy, contended for the regency, and plundered the treasure 
which had been collected by the wise economy of Charles V. 
The revolt of the Mailloiins, excited at Paris by the increase 
of taxes and the vexatious government of the king's uncles, 
and the insurrection of the Tuchins (peasants) against the 
oppression of the lords, were the sad preludes of the most 
fatal epoch of French history. It was in vain that an expe- 
dition against the Flemmings, marked by the victory of Rose- 
leke (1382), and the happy reforms begun by Charles VI. 
on coming of age, excited the hope of a government both ener- 
getic and prudent ; for the derangement of the king soon be- 
came for France a source of incalculable misfortunes (1392). 
The power was disputed by the queen Isabeau of Bavaria, 
and the dukes of Orleans, of Berry, and of Burgundy. After 
the death of this last, the duke of Orleans was assassinated by 
the attendants of the new duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, 
and this crime was the signal of the bitter contest of the Bur- 
gundians and Armagnacs, who took their name from the pow- 
erful count of Armagnac, father-in-law of the young duke of 
Orleans, and who put himself at the head of his party. The 
Burgundians, who had made themselves odious by the ex- 
cesses of the Cahochiens, a military formed of the dregs of 
the people, were driven from Paris by the Armagnacs, sup- 
ported by the queen and the princes. The states-general, 
which were assembled in 1413, and the dauphin, who was 
charged with the administration, vainly strove to remedy so 
many evils. France was a prey to a frightful anarchy when 
the new king of England, Henry V. (1413-1422), demanded 
the execution of the treaty of Bretigny, and invaded Nor- 
mandy at the head of fifty thousand men. Compelled to re- 
treat, he was already within reach of Calais when the French 
army overtook him, forced him to give battle, and was exter- 
minated in the plains of Agincourt (1415). Neither the dis- 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND — SECOND PERIOD OF RIVALRY. 315 

asters of this day, not less fatal than Crecy and Poictiers, nor 
the constantly increasing danger of the country, could allay 
the fury of faction. The Armagnacs, masters of Paris, were 
massacred by the people, stirred up by the executioner Cape- 
luche, while Henry V. was making the conquest of Nor- 
mandy. The duke of Burgundy, whose triumph seemed 
sure, was assassinated at Montereau by the attendants of the 
dauphin (1419), at the moment in which the two parties, 
alarmed at the success of the English, were upon the point of 
uniting against them. Philip his son avenged him by a new 
treason, giving up France to Henry V. by the treaty of Tropes. 
Parliament confirmed the treaty, and gave the king of Eng- 
land the daughter of Charles VI. in marriage, with the title 
of regent, and heir of the crown (1420). Charles the dau- 
phin sought an asylum in the southern provinces. 

285. Charles VII. — Expulsion of the English. — Two 
years afterwards, at the death of Henry V. and Charles VI. , 
the young Henry VI. of England united the two crowns 
(1422-1461). The dauphin, a wanderer on the banks of 
the Loire, and simple king of Bourges, strove to forget him- 
self in amusement, and lose his inheritance gayly. The 
English, victorious at Crevant (1423), and at Verneuil 
(1424), laid siege to Orleans, where the dauphin had shut 
himself up with Dunois, Xaintrailles, La Hire, and several 
other valiant knights. 

At this moment, when the city was hard pressed, and on 
the point of surrendering, Joan of Arc, a humble peasant 
girl, appeared before the king, declaring that she had re- 
ceived a mission from heaven to deliver France ; and then 
attacking the English, liberated in ten days that last bulwark 
of the French monarchy. Charles was crowned at Rheims 
(1429), to which the Maid of Orleans had opened her way 
by the victory of Patay. A sudden enthusiasm seemed to 
have inspired the whole army, and extended to the people. 



816 FRANCE AND ENGLAND — SECOND PERIOD OF RIVALRY. 

To check it the regent had Henry VI. crowned at Paris with 
great pomp (1431). Joan of Arc too was wounded at the 
siege of Paris, and fell at Compiegne into the hands of the 
English, who covered themselves with eternal infamy by 
condemning her to an ignominious death. But it was all in 
vain. The tide of conquest had turned. The duke of Bui'- 
gundy united himself, by the treaty of Arras, to the cause of 
France (1435). Paris opened her gates (1436). The gene- 
rals of Charles "VII., Dunois, La Hire, Xantrailles, re-enter 
the provinces one by one, driving the English armies before 
them, in spite of the internal dissensions and the disorders of 
the Praguerie, fomented by the son of the king. The war 
which had been suspended for a moment by a treaty which 
sanctioned the marriage of Henry VI. with a French pi'in- 
cess, Margaret of Anjou (1445), soon began again, and 
stripped the English of the remainder of their possessions on 
the continent. In 1453, they had nothing left but Calais, 
and Henry VI., who had thus lost one of his crowns, was to 
be deprived of the other by a long and bloody war against 
a prince of his own family. (V. Mod. Hist.) 

A new era began for France. Victorious in a contest 
which had so often menaced her existence, she was now to 
resume her place at the head of the nations of the continent, 
and complete the internal work of organization. 

Charles VII. profited by the weakness of the nobility, 
whose ranks had been thinned by all those civil and foreign 
wars, in order to gain new guarantees to the royal power. 
The establishment of a standing army (1445), and a tax for 
paying it, freed the throne from the dangerous and precarious 
succor of feudal troops ; and it is with this that the truly 
monarchical period of French history begins. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

HISTOET OF THE SCLAVOOTiC AND SCANDII^AVIAN' 
STATES FEOM THEIE OEIGIlSr TO THE MIDDLE 
OF THE riFTEENTH CENTUEY. 



SUMMARY. 



§ I. Foundation of Kiev and Novogorod by the Russians. — The 
Tcheques or Bohemians. — Premislas their first duke. — The Polemians 
or Poles — Cracus founds Cracow. — The Obotrites. — The Khazar Turks. 
— The Hungarians. — Tlieir conversion under Vale or St. Stephen. 

§ II. Arrival of Rurick in Russia. — He subdues the Sclavonic popu- 
lation. — Religion of the Russians. — Their conversion under Vlademir. — 
Introduction of the Greek church into Russia. — Influence of this event. — 
Jaroslaf gives laws to the Russians. — System of appanage. — Parcelling 
out of Russia. — Attempt at federation under Vlademir II. — Invasion of 
the Moguls, who subdue Russia. — First efforts of Russia to recover her 
independence. — Foundation of the Russian monarchy by Ivan I. 

§ III. Piast first king of Poland. — Conversion of the Poles. — Contest 
with Russia. — Influence of the popes in Poland. — Boleslaus III. the Vic- 
torious. — Contest with the Prussians. — The Brethren of the militia of 
Christ and the Teutonic knights. — Troubles in Poland. — Ravages of the 
Moguls. — Contest of Poland against the Teutonic knights and the 
Lithuanians. — Casimir the Great. — Accession of the Jagellons. — Re- 
union of Lithuania. — Battle of Tanneberg, and peace of Thorn with the 
knights. — Vladislas king of Poland and Hungary. — Preponderance of 
Poland. — Progress of the power of the nobility. 

^ IV. Origin of the Scandinavian slates. — Harold of the Blue Tooth, 
king of Denmark. — Conversion of the Danes. — Sweno and Canute the 



318 ORIGIN OF THE SCLAVONIAN STATES. 

Great, kings of Denmark, Norway, and England. — Division of the three 
kingdoms — Crusade against the pagans of the North. — Vlademir the 
Victorious unites Norway and Denmark. — New division. — Greatness of 
Denmark under Valdemar IV. 

§ V. Conversion of Sweden. — Triple cause of division in Sweden ; 
in the government, the population, and the religion. — Of the royal and 
the popular power. — Glorious reign of Magnus Ladulas. — Progress of 
the power of the nobility. — Margaret of Denmark. — Battle of Falkoep- 
ing. — Union of Calmar. — Causes of its early dissolution. — Remains only 
under Eric the Pomeranian, and Christopher the Bavarian. — Rupture of 
the union. — Christian king of Denmark and Norway. — Charles Canut- 
son king of Sweden. 

§1. 

ORIGIN OF THE SCLAVONIAN STATES. 

286. Origin of the Russians — Of the Bohemians. — We 
have mentioned the three great families which originally 
divided the race of the Sclavonians (v. ch. i. § 11), and 
which probably lived in tribes till the migrations of the Huns 
compelled them to unite in warlike confederations in order 
to resist the common enemy. But the origin of this people 
is wrapt in profound obscurity, and their history begins only 
in the fifth century. A tribe composed of Russians and 
Alans founded Kiev on the Borysthenes ; and soon after 
Novogorod, which soon became a powerful and celebrated 
city. But this rising state was not yet Russia, which was 
not formed till three centuries later. 

The origin of Bohemia and Poland may be referred to 
the middle of the sixth century. Towards 550, a tribe of 
Sclavonians called Tcheques, drove the Marcomanni from the 
country of the ancient Boii and formed several independent 
republics, among which was that of Prague. Subdued by 
the Avars, they, were soon after (about 626) delivered by a 
Frank merchant called Samo, whom they put at their head. 



ORIGIN OF THE SCLAVONIAN STATES. 319 

They took the name of Bohemians from the country in 
which they lived (Bosohemem), and chose a single leader 
with the title of duke. Premislas (about 700) is considered 
as the first of these dukes. They soon became redoubtable 
to the empire of the East, and the countries of the West. 
Charlemagne having conquered the Avars, compelled the 
Bohemians themselves to acknowledge his supremacy, and 
extended his empire over the powerful nation of the Obo- 
trites. The contest was renewed with various success, under 
Lewis the Germanic and his sons ; and the emperors of Ger- 
many were often exposed to the attacks of the Sclavonians 
till Otho the Great, having conquered Bolislas I., com- 
pelled the Bohemians to acknowledge the suzerainty of the 
empire (950). The Bohemians embraced the Christian reli- 
gion ; and it was from Prague that, a few years later, St. 
Adelbert set forth to the spiritual conquest of Poland. 

287. Polenians or Poles. — Ohotrites. — The Polenians or 
Poles had established themselves, at the same time with the 
Bohemians, between the Oder and Vistula. They divided 
their conquest into twelve provinces, or potentates. But soon 
weary of the divisions of their chiefs, they gave the crown to 
one of their principal warriors, Cracus, who founded Cracow, 
the royal residence of the Poles (towards 600). 

The Ohotrites, freed from the imperial dominion under 
the sons of Charlemagne, were united into a nation by one 
of their chiefs, Gotskalker, and formed the kingdom of the 
Venedi. But irritated by the efforts of their prince to subject 
them to the Catholic faith, they broke violently asunder in 
1066. massacred the priests and recovered their independence, 
or rather their political and religious anarchy, On the ruins 
of the kingdom of the Venedi, rose the three states of Meck- 
lenburg, Pomerania, and Pomerelia. The two last were 
converted by bishop Otho of Brandenburg, who had been 
sent to them by Boleslas, king of Poland. Mecklenburg 



320 ORIGIN OF THE SCLAVONIAN STATES. 

alone repelled the new religion, and it took waves of blood to 
force them to receive baptism. 

288. The Khazar Turks. — The Hungarians. — The Ants. 
— In Eastern Europe, Asiatic populations came and min- 
gled with the Sclavonic nations. The Khazar Turks founded 
in remote times, a powerful dominion between the Caspian 
and Black seas, and rendered themselves redoubtable to the 
emperors of Constantinople. About three centuries after the 
first appearance of the Russians, the Ougres Madyars, natives 
of Turkishtan, appeared on the borders of the Danube ; and 
the neighboring people gave them the name of Hungarians 
(strangers). It was a wandering tribe, which only settled 
down after having terrified all Europe by its devastations. 
Repelled by the Russians, they invaded Silesia and Bohe- 
mia several times, and penetrated into Italy and Burgundy. 
It was only by the victorious arms of Otho the Great, that 
they were compelled to cease from their incursions. Chris- 
tianity did still more than force. Their chief, Geisa (961-997), 
and his son Vaic, who received at his baptism the Christian 
name of Stephen, softened the fierce and turbulent nature 
of these barbarians by propagating Christianity. Stephen 
received from pope Sylvester II. the apostolic crown ; and 
from Henry II. of Germany the title of king (1000), with the 
hand of Gisela, the emperor's sister. 

The family of the A7its had separated from the other 
Sclavonic nations ; and after having been subjected, like the 
Tcheques, to the yoke of the Avars, they descended towards 
the south, and in 626 obtained from the emperor Heraclius 
permission to establish themselves in Illyria, on the coast 
of the Adriatic, where they founded several principalities. 
This was the origin of the bannats of Croatia, Dalmatia, 
Esclavonia, Bosnia, and Servia. 

Such was the origin of the principal Sclavonian states. 



RUSSIA. 321 

We will now follow, in their progressive developments, those 
which played an important part during the middle ages. 



§11. 



RUSSIA. 

289. Establishment ofRuric in Russia. — The people who 
had founded Kiev and Novogorod in what is now Russia, did 
not remain masters of them long. Towards 862, three bro- 
thers from Sweden established themselves near Lake Ilmen, 
where they were received as friends, and allowed to build 
cities. But one of them, Ruric, heir of the domains of his 
two brothers, had himself proclaimed Great Prince at Novo- 
gorod, in spite of the resistance of the old inhabitants. These 
were soon after mingled with the new comers, and the Rus- 
sian language replaced the Sclavonian. At the same time, 
two Russians, who had been sent from Novogorod to Constan- 
tinople, made themselves masters of the city of Kiev, which 
they took from the Khazar Turks (863). After the death of 
Ruric, and during the reign of his son Igor, this new princi- 
pality was united with that of Novogorod (879-945). Under 
this prince the new state, though scarcely organized, marked 
its first entrance among the nations by a bold enterprise. 
The Russians descended the Borysthenes, and appeared be- 
fore Constantinople with two thousands barks, transporting 
their fleet on wheels across the isthmus, which separates the 
Propontis from the Euxine. The emperor Leo the Philoso- 
pher sued for peace, and the Christians paid tribute to the bar- 
barians of the North (911). However, the Sclavonians, tired 
of a foreign dominion, revolted and assassinated Igor. But 
five thousand of them atoned with their lives for the murder 
of their prince, and the yoke fell on them anew. 

14* 



322 HTJSSiA. 

290. Religion of the Russians. — Their conversion under 
Vladimir. — The Russians, thenceforth masters of the country, 
lived in profound barbarism, abandoning themselves to sombre 
and cruel superstitions. At the feet of the god Peroum, cre- 
ator of the thunderbolt, there was a constantly burning pile 
into which animals and prisoners were thrown, and where 
even mothers came to cast in their children as a welcome 
offering. Queen Olga (945-970), the wisest of women, say 
the Russian annals, was struck with horror at this bloody 
religion, and embraced Christianity. Her grandson, Vladi- 
mir, who secured the throne after a civil war of seven years 
against his brother Jarapolk (974-980), received the ambas- 
sadors of three people who wished to convert the Russians. The 
Bulgarians offered Mahometanism ; the Jews, their worship, 
without an altar or a home ; and the Greeks, Christianity. 
Ten men of character and experience were chosen to exa- 

•mine the three religions, and came back to say to Vladimir: 
" After having seen the Greek religion, we can no longer 
adore our ancient gods, as a man rejects bitter food after he 
has tasted of sweet." Immediately, Vladimir asked to be 
baptized, destroyed the old temples, had the statue of the 
god Peroum tied to a horse's tail, and torn to pieces, and 
commanded all his subjects to follow his example under 
penalty of being treated as rebels (988). They were all 
assembled on the banks of the Dnieper to receive baptism, 
and entered the water to their waists, while from both banks 
the Christian priests recited the prayers of the church. 
Vladimir founded a school, to spread knowledge and religion 
together. But he was compelled to employ violence in order 
to induce mothers to send their children, writing being looked 
upon by the Russians as one of the most dangerous forms of 
witchcraft. 

291. Jaroslaf gives laws to Russia. — According to the 
ancient custom of the country, the inheritance of Vladimir 



RUSSIA. 323 

was divided by his sons into several appanages, very nearly 
independent of each other, and which changed the monarchy 
into a kind of irregular federation under the nominal supre- 
macy of the great prince. After long disputes, Jaro.slaf 
(1018-1054) succeeded in reuniting the different states, and 
reigned with glory over all Russia (1036). The Great 
Prince published a code known under the name of Russian 
truths, which divided the nation into three classes, the nobles 
or boyards, the people, and the slaves. For the right of ven- 
geance, which perpetuated hostilities between families, he 
substituted the system of composition, which was in juse 
among the Germans, and endeavored to fix the great princi- 
ples of government. At the same time, Russia began to open 
other relations, besides those of war and pillage, with the rest 
of Europe. Vladimir had married a Greek princess. Ja- 
roslaf had Greek authors translated, and multiplied his rela- 
tions with the neighboring people. One of his daughters 
married Henry I. of France ; the other two married Harold, 
king of Norway, and Andrew, king of Hungary. 

But this first budding of civilization was quickly checked, 
and the influence of Christianity, which was so powerful 
in the rest of Europe, was hardly felt in Russia. The 
Greek schism had separated her from the rest of Christendom, 
which was subject to the influence of the Holy See. The 
nomination of the monk Hilarion, as metropolitan of Russia, 
was the signal for the concentration of the ecclesiastical 
authority in the hands of the Great Prince, and the church 
became a blind instrument of arbitrary power. 

292. System of Appanages. — Divisions. — Troubles. — In- 
vasion of the Moguls. — The fatal system of appanages, 
which contained the same germs of division with feudality, 
without the counterbalancing of any principle of hierarchi- 
cal subordination, divided into five states the vast domains of 
Jaroslaf, from the borders of the Pruth to those of lake 



324 RUSSIA, 

Ladoga and Onega ; from the shores of the gulf of Fin- 
land to the source of the Volga. 

Jaroslaf had exhorted his sons to observe justice, and 
cherish harmony ; but no sooner was he dead (1054), 
than the rivalries of the brothers broke out, and all Russia 
became a prey to frightful confusion. We shall not attempt 
to trace the monotonous history of wars, treasons, cruel 
vengeance, and bitter retaliation, which fill this period. For 
a moment, the princes seemed to have grown tired of this 
confusion, and attempted to put an end to it. They met 
at Lioubetch (1097), at the call of Sviatopolk II., gave the 
kiss of peace, and swore to respect each other's rights. 
Three great victories over the barbarians of the north of 
Asia were the fruits of this union (1113). Vladimir II., 
Sviatopolk's successor (1113-1152), received from the einpe- 
ror Alexis Comnenes a golden cap, the ensign of supreme 
power, and which is still preserved for the coronation of the 
sovereign. But the assembly of Lioubetch had exaggerated 
the fatal right of appanages, by deciding that the states of 
each prince should be indefinitely divided between all his 
children. Thus, after the death of Vladimir, anarchy resumed 
her work of destruction. Ten Great Princes succeeded one 
another in a few years (1125-1164), and Russia was con- 
suming her strength in internal quarrels, at the moment when, 
a terrible scourge fell upon her. In 1223, a swarm of Mo- 
guls, detached from the great army of Genghis Khan, preci- 
pitated itself upon Russia, crushed her troops, and returned 
to Asia laden with plunder. Soon a new army appeared 
under the orders of the ferocious Bati, ivhose cruelties, says a 
Russian writer, made the survivors envy the repose of the dead. 
The Tartar, after having successively subdued Hungary, 
Moldavia, and Walachia, and killed in battle the Great Prince 
louri (1238), compelled his successor to go and swear fealty 
and homage to the Khan of the Moguls on the banks of the 



POLAND. 325 

river Amour, and established near the Volga the famous 
Golden Horde which, for more than a century, continued to 
dispose of the lives and dignity of the Great Princes. 

293. Foundation of the Russian Monarchy hy Ivan I. — 
The foundation of the Russian monarchy is attributed to 
Ivan I, who transferred the seat of his power to Moscow 
(1328), and subjected the greater part of the other princes to 
his supremacy. But he could not escape the ravages of the 
Lithuanians, and the still powerful suzerainty of the Golden 
Horde. The end of the fourteenth century saw the first suc- 
cessful effort of Russia for the recovery of her indepen- 
dence, and a brilliant victory of the Great Prince Dmitri I. 
over the chief of the great horde (1380), seemed to presage 
the end of this long dominion. But soon the burning of 
Moscow by the Moguls (1382), and the massacre of twenty- 
four thousand Russians, who were slaughtered on the fallen 
ramparts, proved that the hour of deliverance was not yet 
come. 



§111. 

POLAND. 

294. Piast I. king of the Poles. — Their conversion. — 
Poland, separated by Russia herself from the Asiatic popula- 
tions nearest to the West, had received during this period a 
more regular development. After the death of Cracus, the 
Poles, agitated by internal discord, renounced the govern- 
ment of their dukes to choose a king. A simple husband- 
man, Piast (towards 842), won the throne by his virtues. 
Poland was happy under his reign. Commerce and agricul- 
ture flourished in a country, till then, uncultivated and bar- 
barous. Under the fourth descendant of Piast, Christianity 



326 POLAND. 

began to exercise its civilizing influence. It was to a woman 
that Poland, like the greater part of the other barbarous na- 
tions, owed this benefit (965). Miecislas I. had married the 
daughter of Boleslas I. duke of Bohemia. This princess, 
who had been brought up a Christian, converted her husband. 
The Bohemian saint, Adalbert, was called to preach the gos- 
pel in Poland ; and the Poles passing suddenly from pagan- 
ism to the most fervent piety, added new rigors to ecclesias- 
tical discipline. He who broke the law of abstinence, was 
to be punished with the loss of his teeth. Miecislas, full of 
gratitude towards Germany, from whence he had received 
Christianity, consented to do homage to the emperor Otho 
II. (978). The Poles still remember ^o/e.sZa5 I. son of Mie- 
cislas (992-1025), who established the custom long respected 
in Poland, of singing religious hymns while marching against 
the enemy. 

295. Wars against the Russians, Prussians, and Moguls. 
— Boleslas II. (1058-1081) took advantange of the Aveakness 
and anarchy of Russia to extend his own dominion, and proud 
of his success, shook off the imperial suzerainty (1077); but 
his misconduct made him hated and despised at the close of 
his life. Gregory VII. excommunicated him (1080), laid 
his kingdom under interdict and suppressed the title of king 
of Poland. Boleslas was compelled to yield to the haughty 
pontiff (1081), and went to die, it is said, in a convent of 
Croatia. 

The twelfth century was for Poland an epoch of per- 
petual wars against the surrounding nations, Russians, Prus- 
sians, Pomeranians, and Hungarians. Boleslas III. the Vic- 
torious (1102-1138), after forty-seven battles, compelled the 
princes of Pomerania to recognize the suzerainty of Poland 
(1124), and permit the introduction of Christianity into their 
states; but at his death, the division of his kingdom into four 
independent principalities, put an end to the progress of its 



POLAND. 327 

power. The Prussians, a barbarous and pagan people formed 
of a mixture of Russians and Sclavonians, took advantage of 
the weakness of their neighbors to invade their territory and 
begin a desperate contest which was to last more than a cen- 
tury. Their ravages were only checked by the arms of the 
Brethren of the soldiers of Christ, or knights bearers of the 
sword of Livonia, who, united with the Teutonic knights 
(about 1226), began a crusade against these infidels, and to- 
wards the end of the fifteenth century compelled them to 
receive baptism. 

A last and more terrible invasion was that of the Moguls, 
who appeared under the reign o?' Boleslas V. (1227-1279). 
The Polish army was defeated, Cracow burnt, and the king 
compelled to fly into Moravia (1242). Famine drove the Mo- 
guls from a country which they had devastated ; and they 
fell upon the Hungarians, whom a common origin could not 
save from these ferocious invaders. Boleslas V. only re- 
turned to Poland to flee again before the invasion ; and his 
successor, Lesko the Black, died of grief at the sight of the 
disasters of his country (1289). 

296. Contest against the Teutonic Knights and the Li- 
thuanians. — Casimir the Great. — Poland only escaped this 
danger to fall back into anarchy. While the Teutonic 
knights, who had become the enemies of the people for 
whom they had fought so long, threatened the frontiers on the 
south at the same time that the savage Lithuanians invaded 
those on the north, Poland, convulsed by the ambitious con- 
tests of the nobles, was reduced to give her ci'own to a foreign 
king, Vladislas of Bohemia (1300). It required the inter- 
vention of the pope to check the Teutonic knights, and re- 
store national princes to Poland. At length she rose again 
under Casimir the Great, the last descendant of the race of Piast 
(1333-1370), who, with the mediation of the pope and king 
of Hungary, made peace with Bohemia and the Teutonic 



328 POLAND. 

order (1335), conquered the Russians, and took several pro- 
vinces from the Lithuanians. A skilful politician as well as 
a victorious warrior, he was the first to give written laws to 
his people (1347). He set bounds to the absolute authority 
of the king, by increasing the power of the nobles, and en- 
riched the people by the development of commerce. 

After the death of Casimir, and the agitated reign of 
Lewis the Great (1370-1382), already king of Hungary, the 
elevation of the Lithuanian family of Jagellons to the throne 
of Poland put an end to the long rivalry of the two nations, 
and made them more formidable than ever to their common 
enemies, the Teutonic knights and the Russians. 

297. Power of Poland under the Jagellons. — Jagellon 
was baptized, and took the name of Vladislas II. (1386). 
Christianity was proclaimed as the religion of Lithuania, and 
the idol Peroum fell before the cross. Several victories over 
the Tartar Khans were the first fruits of the union of tiie two 
people (1397). Meanwhile the Teutonic order also had been 
growing in strength. It had obtained the cession of the 
island of Gothland, and the Lithuanian province of Samogitia. 
Fifty-five walled cities, and forty-eight castles, defended a 
vast territory peopled by two millions of inhabitants. Yet 
Vladislas Jagellon invaded it, and won the great victory of 
Tanneberg (1410), in which nearly forty thousand soldiers, 
with six hundred knights, and the great master of the order, 
were killed. This battle, and the peace of Thorn, which 
confirmed its results (1411), may be considered as the first 
symptoms of the decay of the Teutonic order, which was soon 
compelled to give up several cities to its enemies, who had 
received a new increase of strength by the accession of their 
king Vladislas III. (1434-1444) to the throne of Hungary 
(1440). Unfortunately, the development of the Polish power 
was fettered by the vices of the constitution. The royal 
authority had already suffered from the encroachments of 



SCANDINAVIAN STATES. 329 

the nobles, which had been injudiciously favored by the great 
Casimir. The monarchy had not yet become elective, and 
the race of the Jagellons preserved the throne by right of 
succession ; yet every prince was obliged to receive, at his 
accession, the sanction of the nobles, who alone took part with 
him in the government. None but the nobles were represented 
in the diet, and received dignities and honors, leaving all the 
weight of taxation upon the peasants. The burgesses, the 
third estate, which was to become the strength of other nations, 
had no existence in Poland ; and this was the real cause of 
her decay. But still she was to maintain for several years 
her rank of first power of the north. 



§ IV. 

SCANDINAVIAN STATES. DENMARK AND NORWAY. 

298. Origin of the Scandinavian States. — Their Union 
under Canute the Great. — The origin of the Scandinavians 
is no less obscure than that of the Sclavonians. The ancients 
had known them by their frequent migrations, which had 
procured those regions the appellation of storehouse of nations. 
It was by their invasions also that they were known in the 
middle ages. We have already spoken of the adventurous 
expeditions of those pirates, who, after having filled all west- 
ern Europe with the fame of their devastations and exploits 
(v. ch. x. § i.), came to mingle with the population of 
France, England, and Italy. They who remained in their 
frozen country lived there obscurely, holding for a long while 
no relations with the rest of Europe. 

The history of Denmark begins to acquire some certainty 
towards the period of the reign of Harold of the Blue Tooth 
(926-985), who, being defeated in a war against Otho the 



330 SCANDINAVIAN STATES. 

Great, consented to become a Christian, and receive into his 
states the missionaries which were sent there by the arch- 
bishop of Hamburg (972). A few yeai's afterwards, Chris- 
tianity penetrated into Norway, under the reign of Olaus 1. 
(995-1000) and St. Olaus II. (1014), who sent missionaries 
into Iceland, and even as far as the coasts of Greenland. 
Paganism, which was deeply rooted in Scandinavia, and for- 
tified by ancient traditions and national poetry, triumphed 
again for a moment under Sweno, who conquered England, 
and subjected a part of Norway to his empire. But Canute 
the Great, who completed the conquest of Norway (1031), 
and united three crowns upon his head, labored diligently to 
re-establish Christianity in all his states. 

299. Division of the Empire of the North. — Crusade 
against the Pagans. — After him (1036), the great empire of 
the north was divided. Norway passed from Hardi Canute 
to Magnus the Good (1036-1047), who, after the death of the 
sons of Canute the Great, made himself master of Denmark 
(1041). This kingdom recovered its independence under 
Sweno Estrithson, grandson of the conqueror of England 
(1047), who secured his throne by the aid of the emperor of 
Germany, while the king of Norway, Harold IV., lost his 
life in fighting for the traitor Tostig (1066), in England (v. 
ch. X. § ii). After the death of Sweno begins a period 
filled with internal quan-els and obscure contests with Nor- 
wegian pirates or the pagans of Pomerania. 

However, the great movement which at this period agita- 
ted Christian Europe, was felt even in those distant countries. 
Erick I, of Denmark (1103,) and Sigurd, king of Norway, 
(1107), took the cross, and set out for Holy Land in their 
light barks, built rather to ascend rivers than face the dan- 
gers of a distant voyage. The surname of Pilgrim to Jeru- 
salem rewarded the religious heroism of these princes. But 
the kings of the north had a crusade at their own doors, 



SCANDINAVIAN STATES. 331 

less brilliant, it is true, but perhaps scarcely less glorious. 
While St. Bernard was preaching the second crusade 
against the East, the princes of Denmark undertook to 
convert or to exterminate the Vandals of Germany, who, 
inheriting the adventurous spirit of the old Normans, were 
paying back upon Scandinavia all the ills which she had 
inflicted upon Europe. The brave Valdemar I. (1157-1182), 
son of St. Canute, carried war into the very focus of northern 
paganism, the island of Rugen, where there was a monstrous 
idol, whose altar was constantly wet with Christian blood. 
Victorious over the Rugians (1168), he broke the idol in the 
presence of its worshippers, who renounced their errors at 
the sight. Valdemar, who was as wise as he was brave, was 
the first to give his people written laws, and compiled the 
laws of Slavia, of Zealand, and an ecclesiastical code. His 
son, Canute IV., established the three orders of the lords 
(deans and bishops), of the nobles, and of the peasants, who 
were to compose the assembly of the States (1183-1158). 
He subdued also the princes of the Obotrites, and the duke of 
Pomerania (1187). 

300. Power of Denmark under Valdemar IT. and Valde- 
mar IV. — Valdemar II., the victorious, compelled Norway 
to acknowledge the supremacy of Denmark, and formed, 
with the consent of Frederic II., the kingdom of Vandalia 
out of his conquests in the north of Germany. But the cap- 
tivity of this prince, who was imprisoned by a traitor, sud- 
denly checked the progress of the Danish power. Norway 
regained her independence. Mecklenburg, Holstein, and the 
rich cities of Lubeck and Hamburg, which had recently 
been subjected, shook off the yoke, and when Valdemar re- 
covered his liberty it was too late to repair these disasters. 

At the same time Denmark had become the prey of in- 
ternal factions, which were prolonged throughout a whole 
century, till Valdemar IV. {III.) (1340-1375), reducing to 



332 SWEDEN. 

obedience all the Danish provinces, which were divided be- 
tween six independent princes, restored strength to the go- 
vernment by a severe and skilful policy, and enlarged his 
territory by the conquest of the islands of Aland, Gothland, 
and Holstein. This prince prepared the way for the glorious 
reign of his daughter Margaret — the last scion of the race of 
Odin — who, regent of Denmark (1387), queen of Norway by 
marriage (1388), and of Sweden by election (1389), united 
upon her brow the three crowns of the North. 



§ V. 

SWEDEN. UNION OF CALMAR. 

301. Conversion of Sioeden. — Of the royal and popular 
power. — During the whole of this period, Sweden had been a 
prey to political and religious divisions. Pagan under the do- 
minion of the kings of TJpsal — descendants, it was said, of the 
famous pirate Lodbrok — she received Christianity under Olof 
Skotkonung (1001-1026), who was baptized by the English 
Sigefred, and was the first to take the title of king of Sweden. 
But the states prevented the king from imposing the new 
worship upon the Swedes, and the worship of Odin preserved 
its place at the side of that of Christ. There was also an- 
other cause of division. The south of the peninsula was 
occupied by Goths of German origin ; the north by the Scan- 
dinavians. Each of these two races claimed the supremacy; 
and as they were equally powerful, the dispute was ended by 
a curious arrangement which called the princes of the two 
nations to the throne in succession. 

Finally there was an antagonism in the government itself, 
between the royal and the popular sovereignty. Every year 
the peasants who were landlords met in a great assembly called 



SWEDEN. 333 

Ting, and elected a man from among themselves, who under 
the name of Thorgny was to watch over the execution of the 
laws. The power of this delegate of the nation was dreaded 
by the king and the nobles. Olof, the first Christian king, 
wishing to attack the king of Norway in spite of the people : 
" Your conduct is imprudent," said the Thorgny. " We 
peasants, wish you, king Olof, to make peace with the king 
of Norway. If you do not give heed to our words you will 
die by our hands ; for we are not men to put up with an out- 
rage. Such were our fathers, when they drowned five kings 
as proud as you. We wait your decision." A great tumult 
arose in the assembly, and the king declared that he was 
ready to accept the proposals that had been made to him. 
This fact explains the history of Sweden, where, through 
every vicissitude, liberty was maintained, because it was 
founded upon property. In our own days, the order of peas- 
ants sits in the diet with the other three ; and this is, with 
the exception of France, the only country of Europe where 
those, who bear the heaviest share of the burden, have also 
the greatest share in elections. 

302. Increase and preponderance of the power of the no- 
lility. — Yet this excessive preponderance of the lower class 
did not last long. It was soon balanced and then overborne 
by the influence of the Christian clergy and the progress 
of the royal power, which surrounded itself with the prestige 
of glory and virtue under the reign of St. Erick — conqueror 
and apostle of Finland (1157), and legislator of his own 
country. After him, the rivalry of the two dynasties plunged 
Sweden into troubles of long duration, which, however, were 
calmed during the reigns of the valiant Birger, and of Mag. 
nus I. (1275-1290). This prince transferred the right of 
making laws from the people to the assembly of notables ; 
forbade private wars during the session of the royal council, 
and at the same time, diffused such prosperity and abundance 



334 SWEDEN. 

through the country, that he received the name of Ladulas, 
or lock of the peasants' granary. Magnus had founded the 
power of the nobility, which became a new cause of trouble 
under his successors, while Sweden was waging a difficult 
contest with Denmark and Russia. After the deposition of 
Magnus II. and his son Haquin, who had united the crowns 
of Sweden and Norway, the nobles called a stranger to the 
throne, Albert of Mecklenburg (1363) ; who, however, was 
soon deposed in turn for attempting to throw off his de- 
pendence on the aristocracy. It was then that the Swedish 
senate offered the crown to Haquin's widow, Margaret 
of Denmark. This princess defeated Albert at Falkoeping 
(1389), and immediately presented to the states of Sweden 
her great-grandson, Erick the Pomeranian, who was pro- 
claimed her heir. 

303. Margaret the Great. — Union of Calmar. — But the 
great result of this victory was the Uiiion of Calmar (1397). 
The deputies of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway proclaimed, 
by a solemn act, that from that time for ever, the three states 
should have but one king, who should be elected by the con- 
current voices of the senators and deputies of the three king- 
doms ; that the election should fall on one of the descendants 
of Erick -, that the three kingdoms should aid each other 
with all their strength against foreign enemies ; and that 
each should preserve its constitution, its senate, and its laws. 
Unhappily this union of all the Scandinavian races, though 
accepted with enthusiasm, had no solid basis to rest upon. A 
federative system could not be preserved long between three 
powerful monarchies, divided by their laws, their customs, 
old jealousies, and conflicting interests. 

Yet during Margaret's reign national rivalries, yielding 
to the influence of her genius, respected the universal peace ; 
and the prudence and courage of the great queen, won for 
her the surname of the Semiramis of the North. Stockholm, 



SWEDEN. 335 

which had remained faithful to the dethroned king, opened 
her gates at the news of the treaty of Cahnar ; and Albert's 
last refuge, the Island of Gothland, yielded to Margaret in 
1408. Her reign lasted in full glory till 1412. 

304. Dissolution oftJie union. — But the work of this illus- 
trious princess did not survive her long. It was in vain that 
Erick the Pomeranian, renewed the union of Calmar, He 
already perceived symptoms of dissolution, and merely aggra- 
vated them. A bloody war with the Hanseatic cities, and 
the commercial rivalry of England and Holland, exhausted 
his resources; while an equal distrust of all his subjects, 
and his refusal to reside either in Sweden or in Denmark, 
dissatisfied the whole union, each member of which deposed 
him in turn. 

The Danes chose in his place, his nephew Christopher 
the Bavarian (1489), who was recognized by the Swedes in 
1440 and by the Norwegians in 1442. After hesitating a 
long while, he transferred his residence to Copenhagen. 
The greater part of his reign was troubled by the piracies 
of Erick the Pomeranian, who landed several times in Swe- 
den, destroyed the houses, and compelled the famished in- 
habitants to live on flour mingled with the pulverized bark 
of trees. Christopher, accused of all the misfortunes of his 
reign, and hated by his people who called him the king of 
bark, died of chagrin in 1448. After him, the union of Cal- 
mar was definitively dissolved. The Swedes chose for king 
Charles Canutson, high marshal of the kingdom ; while the 
Danes and Norwegians, still faithful to their alliance, offered 
the crown to Christian (or Christiern) I., son of Thierry of 
Oldenburg, and a descendant by the female line of their an- 
cient kings (1448). 



CHAPTER XYIIL 

SPAHSr. HISTORY OF THE AEABS AND THE CHEIS- 

TIAlSr KII^GDOMS IN SPAIN TO THE ACCESSION OF 
HENEY IV. TO THE THEONE OF CASTILE. 



SUMBIARY. 

§ I. State of Spain at the Death of Sancho the Great. — Divisions. — 
Ferdinand of Castile. — Exploits of the Cid. — Invasion of the Alraoravi- 
des. — Alphonso VI. — Henry of Burgundy in Portugal. — Alphonso the 
Disputatious. — Reunion and New Division of Spain. — Invasion of the 
Almohads. — Their Progress in the South of Spain. — Foundation of the 
Religious and Military Orders — Crusade preached by Innocent III. to 
succor Spain. — Great victory of the Christians at Tolosa. 

§ II. — Fall of the Almohads. — St. Ferdinand. — Taking of Cordova. 
— Useless attempts upon Grenada. — Spain begins to take a part in Eu- 
ropean politics. — Alphonso the Wise aspires to the Imperial Crown. — ■ 
Sancho the Brave. — Invasion of the Merinides. — Peter of Aragon in Si- 
cily. — State of the Spanish Peninsula at the beginning of the fourteenth 
century. — The children of Lacerda kept fi-om the throne of Castile. — 
Dissensions. — Alphonso II. Glorious reign. — Victory of Tariffa. — Peter 
the Cruel. — His tyranny. — Revolt and triumph of Henry of Transfamare. 
— Increase of the power of the nobles. — Firmness of Henry III. — Revo- 
lution in Grenada. — John II. — Power and fall of the favorite Alvar de 
Luna. — John 11. — Accession of Henry IV. — Progress of Aragon during 
this period. 

§ III. The Council of Twelve. — The Juntas. — The Cortes in Ara- 
gon. — The Nobles and Burgesses. — The Peasants. — Limits of the Royal 
Authority. — The Great Justiciary. — His Power. — Liberal character of 



WARS BETWEEN THE CHRISTIANS AND ARABS. 33Y 

Castilian Institutions in their origin. — Influence of Communities. — The 
Power of the Nobility gradually acquires consistency and becomes pre- 
ponderant. 

§ IV. Conquest of Portugal by Henry of Burgundy. — Alphonso, 
King of Portugal. — Battle of Ourica. — Battle of Santarem, — Exploits 
against the Moors. — Dyonisius, Father of his Country. — Alphonso IV. — 
Murder of Inez of Castro. — Peter the Justiciary. — New Dynasty under 
der John I. 

§ V. Expedition of John I. into Africa. — Henry of Viseu begins mari- 
time discoveries. — Discovery of Madeira. — Reverses in Africa under Ed- 
ward. — Bull of Martin V. — Campaign of Africa. — Discovery of Cape 
Verd and the Azores. 



§1. 

WARS BETWEEN THE CHRISTIANS AND ARABS. 

305. State of Spain at the Death of Sancho the Great. — 
Division between his So7is. — We have seen the first phase of 
the long and heroic struggle of Christian Spain against the 
Mahometan dominion. What all Europe was unable to do 
against the Mussulmen of Asia, the Spaniards alone accom- 
plished against the Moorish race, constantly augmented by 
African tribes. Their crusade lasted eight hundred years, 
amid brilliant success, but sometimes also amid terrible re- 
verses ; and in spite of the internal dissensions which too 
often paralyzed their efforts, their arms never slackened till 
the day of triumph. 

The divisions of the infidels hastened the triumph of the 
Christians. At the fall of the caliphate, when the Mussulman 
provinces were divided between nineteen sovereigns (v. ch. 
vii., 2d part), all Christian Spain, except the kingdom of 
Leon, was united under Sancho the Great, who at his death 
left his son three kingdoms (1035) : to Ferdinand I., Castile, 
to which the kingdoms of Leon and the Asturias were united j 

15 



338 WARS BETWEEN THE CHRISTIANS AND ARABS. 

to Ramiro, Aragon ; to Garcia, Navarre and Biscay. Fer- 
dinand of Castile waged war with the Arabs thirty years, 
conquered Lusitania, and subjected the kings of Toledo, Sa- 
ragossa and Seville to tribute. But the glory of this prince 
was eclipsed by that of his intrepid companion, the Cid 
Campeador (Rodrigo Diaz of Bivar), the Spanish hero of the 
middle ages. Knighted by Ferdinand on his first field, the 
Cid had already received the homage of five infidel kings, 
when Spain was again divided by Ferdinand's death (1065). 

306. Exploits of the Cid and of Alphonso VI. — Inva- 
sion of the Almoravids. — There can be but little doubt but 
what the Mussulman dominion in the peninsula would soon 
have ended but for the constant divisions of the Christian 
kingdoms, which, breaking the unity so essential in war, 
wasted in inglorious disputes and ill-concerted action, the 
energies which should have been united against the common 
enemy. Sancho IV., son of Garcias of Navarre, carried on 
the war against the infidels, while the sons of Ferdinand, 
Sancho of Castile, Alphonso of Leon, and Garcia of Gallicia, 
were contending for the inheritance of their father. After a 
long war Alphonso VI., the survivor of the family of Sancho 
the Great, reunited once more all the Christian states. But 
the Cid had compelled him to swear at the foot of the altar 
that he was innocent of the death of his brother. Alphonso 
never forgave him ; and Rodrigo, in disgrace at court, but 
powerful by his marriage with Chimene, went forth alone to 
fight the enemies of his country and his faith. 

The contest began again with new vigor, new bands 
pouring in from Africa to fill up the thinned ranks of the 
infidels. Alphonso had just made himself master of the king- 
dom of Toledo (1081-1085), subjected the kings of Seville 
and Badajoz to tribute (1086), and acquired several impor- 
tant cities by his marriage with the Christian daughter of the 
king of Seville, when the invasion of the Almoravids, who 



WARS BETWEEN THE CHRISTIANS AND ARABS. 339 

had been called from Africa by the Mussulman princes, com- 
palled him to abandon a part of his conquests. Soon these 
terrible enemies, turning their arms against their own allies, 
built up a new dominion, not less formidable to the Christians 
than that which they had overthrown. 

The Cid distinguished his last years by the conquest of 
Valencia, where he founded a principality, while the valiant 
Henry of Burgundy made himself master of Portugal (1005). 
But after the death of the Cid, Valencia fell under the yoke 
of the Almoravids, in spite of the obstinate defence of Chi- 
mene. The dangers thickened. A bull of Pascal I. (1105) 
forbade the Spaniards to go and fight in Palestine, and com- 
manded all those who had taken the cross to turn their arms 
against the enemies of their own country. Yet they were con- 
quered at Ucles, where the infante Don Sancho perished with 
a great number of his soldiers. Alphonso VI. could not sur- 
vive his son. He left the throne of Castile to his daughter 
Urraca (1109), who married Alphonso VII., already king of 
Arragon and Navarre ; and then the Christian kingdoms 
were again united under the same ruler. 

307. Reunion of the Christian Kingdoms under Alphonso 
VII. — Invasion of the Almohads. — Alphonso made himself 
the terror of the infidels by his victories, and won the name 
of the Fighter. But the jealousy of the queen and the pride 
of the Castilians excited new difficulties. The marriage 
which had united the Christian states was annulled, and the 
kingdom of Castile recovered its independence. A few years 
afterwards (1134), the defeat of Fraga led to the separation 
of Navarre and Aragon. 

The Mussulmen had not been able to profit by these divi- 
sions, for they wei*e still engaged in a war of extermination 
in the south of Spain. The Almohads, sectarians of an ob- 
scure fanatic, who pretended to punish the licentiousness of 
the Almoravids and introduce the reign of justice and virtue, 



340 WARS BETWEEN THE CHRISTIANS AND ARABS. 

succeeded in rendering themselves masters of the northern 
coasts of Africa (towards 1120). Sustained by the warriors 
of the desert, they were victorious at Tlemcen, took Morocco 
after a horrible siege, in which two hundred thousand persons 
died of hunger, and annihilated in Africa the dominion of 
their rivals. At the same time the old Moorish population 
menaced in Spain all the Moravids, but not with the intention 
of submitting to a new yoke. The Almohads met a lively 
resistance on landing in Spain. Three Mussulman parties 
contended eagerly for the supremacy, and this bloody quarrel 
checked for twenty years the progress of the new invasion. 
Alphonso invaded Andalusia, received the homage of the 
new kings of Aragon and Navarre, and was crowned Empe- 
ror (1135). 

308. — Religious and. Military Orders. — Crusade against 
the Moors. — Battle of Tolosa. — Christian Spain prepared to 
renew the contest against the infidels with redoubled energy. 
The enthusiastic fanaticism of the African conquerors was 
met by the chivalric bravery of the religious and military 
orders of Alcantara (1156), of Calatrava (1158), and of St. 
James (1161), which were to renew in the West the exploits 
of the knights of the East. Still Alphonso VII. died without 
having gained any decided advantage over the Mussulmen 
(1157). It was only by an heroic effort (v. § iv.) that Portugal 
succeeded in repelling the invasion, and Alphonso VIII. lost 
the great battle of Alarcos, in which the Almohad Jacoub won 
the name of Al Manzor (1195). At the same time a crowd 
of African tribes flocked to Spain with the hope of dividing 
the Christian provinces as a sure spoil. The kings of 
Castile, Leon, and Navarre, instead of uniting against the 
enemy, abandoned themselves to fatal disputes. The voice 
of Innocent III. was raised in Europe to call Christians to the 
aid of their brethren in Spain. Sixty thousand crusaders of 
France, Germany, and Italy, joined the Spanish troops com- 



DECLINE AND DIVISION OF THE ARAB KINGDOMS. 341 

manded by the grand masters of the military orders, the kings 
of Navarre, Aragon, and Castile. Near Tolosa they met 
the Emir Mohammed, who was clad all in black, with a sabre 
in one hand and the Koran in the other. A fearful contest 
ensued, but the Christians were victorious, and the conquered 
Mussulmen were driven from the field with great slaughter. 
More than a hundred thousand Arabs are said to have been 
killed (1212). 



§11. 

DECLINE AND DIVISION OF THE ARAB KINGDOMS. 

309. Fall of the AlmoJiads. — Glorious reign of St. Fer- 
dinand. — The battle of Tolosa put a final check to the inva- 
sion, and proved a mortal blow to the power of the Almohads, 
which was soon annihilated in the midst of revolts. The 
Christian kings extended their empire, or at least their su- 
premacy, rapidly over southern Spain. St. Ferdinand (1217 
-1252), who definitively united in 1230 the kingdoms of 
Castile and Leon, defeated the Mussulmen and laid siege to 
Cordova. The ancient capital of the Caliphate was taken by 
assault, and the cross raised with the royal banner upon the 
walls. They found there the bells of St. James of Compos- 
tella, which the Christians had been compelled to carry thither 
upon their shoulders. The shoulders of the Mussulmen car- 
ried them back. On his side, James I. or James the Con- 
queror, king of Aragon (1213-1276), crowned his numerous 
victories by the conquest of the kingdom of Valencia. The 
kingdom of Grenada alone preserved its ancient power. All 
St. Ferdinand's efforts to take Grenada were vain ; he was 
compelled to yield to the indefatigable resistance of Alhamar. 
But this king of the Moors soon became the ally of his valiant 



342 DECLINE AND DIVISION OF THE ARAB KINGDOMS. 

antagonist (1246), and aided him in taking Seville, the ter- 
ritory of which was the best cultivated of all Spain and 
known as the garden of Hercules (1248). St. Ferdinand 
fixed his residence there ; and proving himself the worthy 
rival of his contemporary St. Louis, consecrated his last 
years to the framing of laws for his subjects. Time has 
swept his institutions away, but history has preserved this 
sublime saying of the holy king : " I fear the groans of a 
poor woman more than the armies of the Moors." 

310. Invasion of the Merinids repulsed hy Sancho the 
Brave. — Peter III. of Aragon in Sicily. — Henceforth the 
victory of Christian Spain was sure, and she could take a 
part in the affairs of Europe from which she had so long 
been kept aloof by her own dangers. In 1257, Germany 
offered the imperial crown to Alphonso the Wise (1252-1284), 
son of St. Ferdinand, and who like him had for an ally 
James the Conqueror, king of Aragon. Alphonso contended 
long for the crown with Richard of England and Rudolph 
of Hapsburg, and had the glory of stripping the Almohads 
of their last asylum, the province of Murcia (1263). Under 
the reign of his son, Sancho the Brave (1284-1295), Islamism 
made a final effort. A new invasioon fell upon Spain, but it 
was also the last. The Merinids, of the race of Merin king of 
Fez, had made themselves masters of Morocco and put an end 
to the dynasty of the Almohads (1270). At the call of their 
brethren of Grenada, they crossed the straits and killed in 
battle the archbishop Don Sancho, son of James the Conqueror. 
His head was given as a trophy to the Merinids, and his 
right hand to the soldiers of Grenada. Sancho the Brave 
hastened to avenge him, and drove the Arabs back to Africa 
(1285). The ambition of Sancho, who aspired to the crown 
in spite of the rights of the children of his elder brother Fer- 
dinand de la Cerda, caused a fruitless war between Castile 
and France ; while the king of Aragon, Peter III. (1276- 



DECLINE AND DIVISION OF THE ARAB KINGDOMS. 343 

1285), avoiding this useless contest, turned his views towards 
Sicily, which the Sicilian vespers threw into his hands (1282), 
and of which he retained possession in spite of all the efforts 
of Charles of Anjou. Still the Moors continued to maintain 
a position in the south of the peninsula, from which they were 
not finally driven till the whole of Christian Spain had been 
definitively united under one sceptre. 

311. State of Spain during the first half of the fourteenth 
century. — Alphonso XI. — At the beginning of the fourteenth 
century, the Spanish peninsula still contained five distinct 
kingdoms — Navarre, Aragon, Castile, Portugal, and Grenada. 
Navarre, after having belonged to count Thihault IV. of 
Champagne (1234-1253), had fallen to the royal house of 
France by the marriage of Jane, granddaughter of Thibault, 
with Philip the Fair (1284). In 1328, this kingdom passed 
by another marriage to the house of Evreux, which gave it 
for king Charles the Bad, that perfidious enemy of France 
(1349-1386); and at last, by a new revolution, came in 
1425 to John II. of Aragon, unnatural father of the unfortu- 
nate prince of Viane (v. Mod. Hist.). 

While Aragon in 1300 was governed by James II. 
(1291-1327), who was forced to yield Sicily to his brother 
Frederic, the kingdom of Castile and Leon was a prey to 
factions and revolts under the minority of Ferdinand IV. 
(1295-1312). Meanwhile Portugal was flourishing by com- 
merce and art under the long and peaceful reign of Diony- 
sius the Just (1279-1325). Finally the fifth kingdom, that 
of the Moors of Grenada, troubled the Christians only at long 
intervals. Castile alone, while all the other states were en- 
joying the blessings of peace, was exhausted by the fatal dis- 
cords which flowed from the usurpation of Sancho the Brave 
over the children of La Cerda. The reign of Alphonso XI. 
revived the glory of the Castilian name (1312-1350). After 
a stormy minority, Alphonso repressed the insubordination 



344 DECLINE AND DIVISION OF THE ARAB KINGDOMS. 

of the nobles by terrible executions ; ended the dispute with 
the children of La Cerda by ceding to them the recently dis- 
covered Canaries ; and became the terror of the Mussulmen. 
by the famous victory of Tariffa (1340), and the taking of 
the strong city of Algesiras (1344). He had already laid 
siege to Gibraltar, which the king of Grenada had seized in 
1333 ; and was upon the point of taking it, when he was 
carried off by the plague. So great was the respect with 
which he had inspired his enemies that the king of Grenada, 
on hearing of his death, went into mourning (1350). 

312. Peter the Cruel overthrown hy Henry of Transtamare. 
— The tyranny of his son Peter the Cruel (1350-1369) re- 
newed the troubles and sorrows of Castile. The first act 
of the new king was to deliver up to the vengeance of his 
mother the unfortunate Eleanor of Guzman, who had been se- 
cretly married to Alphonso and borne him ten children. His 
subsequent life was a tissue of perfidies and crimes. Vio- 
lating the sanctity of marriage and of his oath, he rejected 
with scorn the queen Blanche of Bourbon for Maria Padilla, 
and threw her into prison to escape her reproaches. The 
punishment of the powerful lord Albuquerque, grand master 
of Calatrava, alarmed the nobles, who formed a league 
against him. But their useless attempt only called forth 
new cruelties. Peter had his brother Frederic killed in his 
presence, and dined the same day on the spot where the mur- 
der had been committed : he killed with his own hand Don 
Juan of Aragon, who had dared to proclaim the independence 
of Biscay, and threw him from a window into the square, 
crying out to the inhabitants of Bilboa : " There is your 
lord !" Soon after he caused three princesses, relations of 
his victim, to be put to death. Henry of Transtamare, the 
eldest of Eleanor's sons, tried to rouse Castile and punish 
these crimes. His first victory rekindled the rage of the 



DECLINE AND DIVISION OF THE ARAB KINGDOMS. 345 

tyrant, who avenged himself by killing Henry's two young- 
est brothers. 

But the day of deliverance was drawing nigh. Henry, 
who after several successes had been defeated and compelled 
to seek an asylum in France, returned to Spain with the 
great companies and du Guesclin at their head. The Cas- 
tilians received him with transport, and proclaimed him king 
at Calahorra (1366). Peter fled in turn and asked an 
asylum and protection of the prince of Wales, whose valiant 
archers decided the success of the famous battle, of Navarete, 
where du Guesclin was taken prisoner (1367). But Henry 
soon reappeared with new troops, and du Guesclin, who 
had recovered his liberty. This time the cowardly Peter 
implored the aid of the infidels ; but they could not save him. 
The great army of the Moors was conquered near Montiel ; 
and Peter, who was besieged in a neighboring castle, was 
compelled to surrender and brought to the tent of du 
Guesclin. Henry was there ; and the two brothers, feeling 
all their hatred revive at the sight of each other, closed in a 
fatal strife, which ended with the death of Peter the Cruel. 
With him the legitimate branch of the royal family of Castile 
became extinct (1369). Henry of Transtamare succeeded 
him, and effaced the stain of his birth by the glory of his 
reign, which was passed in victorious wars against Portugal, 
Aragon, and Navarre (1369-1379.) 

313. Contest between Royalty and the Nohility in Castile. — 
Amid the civil troubles, the nobles had acquired a power and 
an ascendency, which increased during the feeble reign of 
John I. (1379-1390), who allowed them to regulate the ex- 
penses of his household, and during the minority of Henry III. 
(1390-1406), while princes, nobles,and bishops, were contend- 
ing for the guardianship. All the wealth was in the hands of 
the lords, and one day Henry was obliged to sell his cloak 
for food. This humiliation aroused his proud and haughty 



346 DECLINE AND DIVISION OF THE ARAB KINGDOMS. 

soul. The next day he called together all the grandees of 
the court, and addressing each of them in turn, " How many- 
kings have you known ?" said he. Some answered three, 
some four, others five. " And I, who am the youngest 
of you all, have seen more than twenty. Yes," conti- 
nued he, " you are all kings, to my shame and the ruin 
of the state. But your reign is over." And ordering them 
all to be thrown into prison he kept them there, till they had 
restored all the castles and estates which they had usurped 
from the royal domain. The Cortes united with the king to 
humble the nobility, and the punishment of a great number 
of rebels confirmed the royal authority. 

But the njinority of John II. (1406-1454) destroyed the 
work of Henry III. While the kingdom of Grenada was a 
prey to such vicissitudes that a king was condemned to death 
and reinstated upon the throne while a game of chess was 
playing, Castile, which was no less torn by dissensions, could 
nowhere find a moment of repose but under the pitiless des- 
potism of the favorite Alvar de Luna, who, from the humblest 
condition, had risen by his energy and talent to the highest 
offices. But soon a league of the most powerful lords (1426), 
in which the kings of Aragon and Navarre and John's own 
son joined, seized the strongest cities of the kingdom, and de- 
manded the minister's disgrace. Alvar maintained the con- 
test for more than twenty years. Tv/ice exiled by the king, 
he twice returned more terrible than ever. Finally, the no- 
bility prevailed, and his head fell upon the scaffold (1453). 
The feeble king, who had sacrificed him, died the next 
year of grief (1454). 

John II. was succeeded by Henry IV. (1454-1474), who, 
after having joined the factions against his father, tried in 
vain to shake off their control. This reign raised the anarchy 
and calamities of Spain to the highest pitch, and the last 
years of the middle ages saw the throne of Spain disgraced 



POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF ARAGON AND CASTILE. 347 

by the weakness of the king, polluted by the licentiousness 
of the queen, and the royal authority annihilated, or rather 
concentrated in the hands of a few nobles who disposed at 
will of the crown (v. Mod. Hist.). 

314. Progress of the power of Ar agon. — While the king- 
dom of Castile was slowly working its way through this period 
of troubles and decay, Aragon, united and peaceful at home, 
was powerful and dreaded abroad. It had gained Sicily by 
the Sicilian vespers (1282) ; and James II. (1291-1327) 
had obtained a decree for the perpetual union of Aragon, 
Valencia, and Catalonia. In 1326 he made himself master 
of the greater part of Sardinia. His grandson, Peter the Ce- 
remonious (1336-1387), took the island of Majorca (1343), 
bore an active part in the war between Peter the Great and 
Henry of Transtamare, and consolidated the conquests of his 
successors in Sardinia by a treaty with Genoa. Finally, in 
1442, Alphonso V. the Magnanimous (1416-1458) made the 
conquest of the kingdom of Naples. The brother of this 
prince, John II., king of Navarre, who after him inherited 
Aragon and Sicily, was the father of Ferdinand the Catholic, 
under whose sceptre the united kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, 
and Navarre, were to enter upon a brilliant career of prospe- 
rity and glory. 



§ III. 

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF ARAGON AND CASTILE. 

315. Liberal institutions in Aragon and Castile. — The 
Cortes. — The long and victorious efforts which secured the 
political and religious independence of Spain, could not but 
exercise a decided influence upon her internal constitution. 
The national feeling which was manifested by so many 



348 POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF AEAGON AND CASTILE. 

triumphs against the stranger, produced also institutions, 
freer in their origin, than those of any other state of Europe. 

The authority of the king of Aragon was limited ; first by 
a council of twelve men, the oldest and wisest of the country; 
next by the provincial juntas ; and finally by the cories, or 
general assemblies of the three orders of the state, who from 
1283 had the sole right of consenting to war and taxes. The 
nobility was divided into two classes ; the ricos hombres (rich 
men), who received cities and districts in fief with the lower 
jurisdiction and the right of collecting taxes ; and the inferior 
nobility, which comprised the cavalleros (knights) and the 
hidalgos (sons of Goths — nobles). The burgesses, proud of the 
wealth and power of the communities of which they formed 
the strength, hardly yielded to the nobles. In the last rank 
were the peasants, some of whom hired land to cultivate ; 
while others, bound to the soil, lost their property by changing 
their residence. The king, the supreme chief of the nation, 
seemed by his oath of investment to hold of the cortes and the 
first magistrate of the kingdom, the great justiciary. " We who 
separately are as good as you " — said the deputies to a new 
prince — " and united much your betters, make you our king 
on condition that you will maintain our laws and privileges ; 
if not, no." After this haughty formula the king took the 
oath on his knees before the great justiciary. This magis- 
trate arbitrator of the disputes between the nobles and king 
enjoyed an influence which increased with time. In 1436, 
the inviolability of the great justiciary was extended even to 
the acts of his private life ; and in 1442 his authority, which 
had been subject to revocation by the king, was declared 
permanent. 

316. The nohility obtain the preponderance. — In Aragon 
the preponderance was constantly with the nobility. But in 
Castile popular liberty received, in the beginning, a fuller 
development. At the end of the thirteenth century, the comma- 



KINGDOM OF PORTUGAL. 349 

nities formed against the nobility a confederation called the 
^roi/ier/tood(hermandad), redoubtable by its strength and unity. 
In the cortes, their deputies counterbalanced without difficulty 
the influence of the clergy and nobles. But Henry of Trans- 
tamare, who owed his triumph to the support of the nobility, 
lavished principalities and domains so profusely upon them, that 
they gave him the surname of Magnificent. They enriched 
themselves also with the spoils of the Jews, who under John I. 
lost the privileges which, as opulent usurers, they had bought 
of his predecessors. We have already seen how much au- 
thority they enjoyed under Henry III. The fall of Alvar 
de Luna crowned their triumph ; and the equilibrium was 
not established till after the deplorable reign of Henry IV., 
who ends the long list of Castilian kings of the middle ages. 



§ IV. 

KINGDOM OF PORTUGAL. 

317. Exploits of Henry of Burgundy^. Aljphonso I., and 
Sancho I. — In the west of the Spanish peninsula, while the 
war with the Moors was at its height, a little Christian king- 
dom was gloriously formed at the expense of the enemies of 
the faith. While Alphonso VI. and the Cid were securing 
the triumph of Christian arms, Henry of Burgundy, great- 
grandson of Robert of France, engaged in the service of the 
king of Castile (1095-1112). After having fought bravely 
at the siege of Toledo, he distinguished himself by his deeds 
against the Saracens of Portugal ; and was rewarded by Al- 
phonso VI. with the hand of his daughter Theresa, and the 
grant of all the countries that he could conquer. In the 
year 1109, he received from his father-in-law the title of 
hereditary count of Portugal. Victorious in seventeen battles 



350 KINGDOM OF PORTUGAL. 

against the Moors, he made himself master of the provinces 
between the Miuho and Duero ; and left to his son, Alphonso 
the Conqueror (1112), the care of completing the task which 
he had happily begun. 

The young prince caused himself to be proclaimed king 
(1139); and adorned his new crown with the laurels of 
Ourica, where he exterminated the armies of five Moorish 
princes. The cortes of Lamego (1143) sanctioned the elec- 
tion of the conqueror, and regulated the order of succession. 
The pope supported him against the pretensions of the king 
of Leon, on condition of his declaring himself tributary of the 
Holy See. The provinces of Bei'ra and Estramadura had 
submitted after the battle of Ourica. Santarem (1145), Lis- 
bon (1147), Evora, Badajoz (1166-1168), opened their gates 
in succession. The foundation of the military order of Evora, 
which afterwards became celebrated under the name of the 
order of Avis, gave royalty valiant defenders. At the close 
of his long and glorious career, Alphonso saw the existence 
of his kingdom suddenly menaced by the terrible invasion 
of the Almohads. The battle of Santarem, in which the old 
king performed prodigies of valor, saved Portugal (1184). 

Alphonso's successor, Sancho I. (1185-1211), added the 
province of Alentejo to the preceding conquests (1203). The 
Algarves were subdued under Alphonso IIL (1248-1279), 
and Portugal reached the limits which she still preserves. 

318. Prosperity of Portugal under Dionysius. — Troubles 
after the murder of Ines de Castro. — Dionysius, who was 
called the father of his country and the working king (1279- 
1325), encouraged agriculture by setting the example of in- 
dustry ; founded the university of Lisbon, which soon became 
eminent (1290); and left to his son Alphonso IV. the Bold 
(1325—1357) a kingdom enriched by industry and commerce, 
and strengthened by wise institutions. But the assassination 
of the gentle Ines de Castro (1354), secretly married to the 



DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTTTGITESE IN AFRICA. 351 

king's son, and who was sacrificed to Alphonso's pride and 
the jealousy of the court, kindled a war between father and 
son, which lasted till the death of the former. Peter I. (1357 
-1367) avenged the death of Ines by having the hearts of her 
murderers torn out. He governed with a severity, which, 
though rigorous, was always equitable ; and won for him the 
name of the Justiciary. After the reign of Ferdinand I., 
filled with troubles and civil- wars, the grandmaster of Avis — 
the last king's natural brother, and who was proclaimed Pro- 
tector of the kingdom by the revolted Portuguese (1433) — 
ascended the throne of Portugal under the name of John I. 
(1385-1433), to the disadvantage of the children of Ines. 
He was the founder of a new family, whose doubtful rights 
he sanctioned by his expeditions against the Moors of Africa 
and John I. of Castile, who undertook to unite Portugal to 
his crown. 



§V. 

DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE IN AFRICA. 

319. First discoveries of the Portuguese. — Henry of Vi- 
seu. — The kingdom of Portugal, confined within narrow 
limits in Europe, was about to be enlarged by the conquests 
which it made beyond the seas during the troubles of Spain, 
whose supremacy it had energetically repelled. Under 
John I. began the adventurous expeditions and the disco- 
veries of the Portuguese. The king of Portugal, victorious 
over the Castilians, set sail for Africa with his three oldest 
sons ; and taking Ceuta in six days, conferred knighthood 
on his sons in the mosque which he had wrested from Islam- 
ism (1415). The infant don Henry of Viseu, one of the 
most learned men of his age, who invented the astrolabe and 



352 DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE IN AFRICA. 

perfected the compass, returned from this expedition with an 
ardent desire to know all of that Africa of which he had ob- 
tained but a glance. A naval school was formed for young 
gentlemen. All the preparations were rapidly completed ; 
and towards 1417, Henry sent out two ships which advanced 
sixty leagues beyond Cape Non, which had, till then, been 
looked upon as an impassable barrier. In 1419, Madeira 
was discovered. A conflagration, which is said to have lasted 
several years, freed this island fi'om the forests with which it 
was covered ; and opened the way for the cultivation of the 
sugar cane and vine, which soon became an important branch 
of Portuguese commerce. 

320. Contests loitli the Moors of Africa. — Neio Discove- 
ries. — ^A war with the Moors of Africa suspended for a mo- 
ment these useful expeditions. Henry and Ferdinand, who 
were sent across the strait by their brother Edward, successor 
of John I. (1433-1438), made an unsuccessful attempt upon 
Tangiers, and were taken prisoners. One of them died in 
captivity ; the other was held as a hostage for the execution 
of the treaty. The Portuguese had promised to give up 
Ceuta, but they chose rather to let their prince die in a foreign 
land than abandon so important a position. They were upon 
the point too of repairing their losses. Prince Henry had 
formed the project of opening a way by sea round Africa. 
His plans were followed up by Alphonso V,, the African 
(1438-1481), the greater part of whose reign belongs to 
modern history. Encouraged by a bull of Martin V. which 
granted to the Portuguese all the lands that they should dis- 
cover as far as India, they doubled Cape Boiador, then Cape 
Blanc (1442). In 1444, a company was formed to hasten 
the progress of discovery. Soon the islands of Cape Verde 
and the Azores were reached. A new variety of the human 
race, the negro, so different from all the races hithez'to known, 
met the eyes of the astonished navigators. They still conti- 



DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTIJGITESE IN AFRICA. 353 

nued to advance, and before the end of the century, and in 
spite of pusillanimous fears and jealous prejudices, Bartholo- 
mew Diaz, and then Vasco de Gama, completed the work 
which prince Henry had begun (v. Mod. Hist.). 



CHAPTER XIX. 

GEEEES AND TUEKS. STATE OF EUEOPE AT THE 

END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



SUMMARY. 

First Part. — § I. Michael Paleologus. — State of the Empire. — 
Transient reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches. — The Catalonians 
at Constantinople under Andronicus IL — Revolt of these intrepid aux- 
iliaries. — Religious disputes. — Usurpation of John Catecuzene ; contest 
with John Paleologus. — The Turks called to the aid of the two rivals. 

§ n. Beginning of the power of the Ottoman Turks. — Osman. — 
Ourkhan. — His conquests in Europe. — Listitutions of this Sultan. — The 
Janizaries. — Mourad or Amurath I. — New conquests. — Resistance of 
the Servians. — Bajazet L — Humiliation of the empire. — Sigismund of 
Hungary calls the people of Europe to his aid. — Defeat of NicopoUs. — 
Bajazet disposes of the empire of the East. 

§ ni. First exploits of Tamerlane or Tiinour-Lenk. — Ravages in 
Asia Minor. — Battle of Ancyra. — Defeat of Bajazet, who is made 
prisoner. — Death of Tamerlane, and rapid decay of his empire. — Enfee- 
blement of the Turks after the invasion of Tamerlane. — They recover 
their power under Mahomet I. and Amurath H. — Valiant resistance of 
.Tohn Hunmjades Corvinus. — Unfortunate expedition of Vladislas of 
Hungary. — Defeat of Varna. — First success of Scanderbeg. 

§ IV. Constantine XIL and Mahomet IL — Foolish divisions of the 
Greeks. — Constantine vainly demands succor of Europe. — Siege of Con- 
stantinople. — Heroic resistance and death of the Emperor. — Taking of 
Constantinople, and end of the Empire of the East. 

Second Part. — State of the Ottoman power in Europe and Asia at 



GREEK EMPIRE. 355 

the moment of the taking of Constantinople. — Situation of the other 
Mussulman dominions in Asia, Africa, and Spain. — The Christian States 
in Europe at the same epoch. — States of the North. — France. — England 
and Scotland. — Germany^and Switzerland. — Italy, Spain, and Portugal. — 
Principal events which mark the close of the middle ages. 



PAET FIEST. 
§ I. 

GREEK EMPIRE. 

321. Michael Paleologus. — Transient reunion of the Greek 
and Latin Churches. — When Michael Paleologus expelled 
Baldwin II., he recovered only a very small portion of that 
Eastern empire which Theodosius had bequeathed to Arca- 
dius (1261). Egypt and Syria obeyed the Mamelukes. In 
Asia Minor, the western coast was nearly all that the empire 
retained ; the rest was divided between ten Seljuk princi- 
palities, tributaries of the Moguls. In Europe, all the pro- 
vinces beyond Mount Hemus belonged to the Vallachians, the 
Bulgarians, and the Hungarians. For two centuries, the fa- 
mily of the Paleologi still continued to contend with the 
Turks for the shreds of the imperial dominion, inwardly torn 
by the dissensions of schismatic monks, and the mercantile 
speculations of the Venetians and Genoese. 

The Greeks, who had lost all their ardor and energy, 
except for endless controversies, could no longer do any 
thing for the defence of the empire. When Michael Paleo- 
logus wrested Constantinople from the Latins, the Venetians 
were all powerful there ; and the emperor, feeling that he 
was too weak to engage in a contest with the republic of 
Venice, sought to escape her control by raising her up a 
rival, and ceded the suburb of Para to the Genoese. But 



356 GREEK EMPIRE. 

the empire, which had escaped fi-om its masters, still had need 
of a protector. To interest the people of the West in its de- 
fence, Michael proposed to Gregory X. the reunion and re- 
conciliation of the two churches (1263). He sent to the 
council of Lyons (1274) two prelates, distinguished for their 
learning and their virtue, who solemnly recognized the su- 
premacy of the pope. But the greater part of the bishops of 
the East opposed his project with great vehemence. Troubles 
broke out in several cities. The patriarch anathematized 
the emperor, and gave him over to the devil. Michael, with- 
out troubling himself about these furious- demonstrations, de- 
posed the obstinate patriarch (1275), abjured the schism, and 
declared that the supremacy of Rome should be recognized 
every where. But no sooner was the name of the pope heard 
in the churches of Constantinople, than the people broke out 
in open revolt. In spite of all the efforts of Paleologus, the 
legates, who had been sent from Rome to receive the oath of 
all the priests of the empire, obtained only an obscure and 
ambiguous profession of faith. Martin IV., dissatisfied with 
this uncertain submission, excommunicated Michael and his 
adherents as impostors ; and the emperor, in retaliation, had 
the pope's name suppressed in the public prayers (1281). 

322. The Catalonians at Constantinople under Andronicus 
II. — The second Paleologus, Andronicus II. (1282-1328), 
broke definitely the transient agreement of the two churches; 
recalling the defenders of the schism, and banishing the par- 
tisans of the Roman church. By these means he succeeded 
in re-establishing some degree of tranquillity in the empire, 
and the rigor with which he punished a conspiracy plotted 
by his own brother, served to give stability to the throne. 
Still, the state could not sustain itself. Andronicus was com- 
pelled to take in pay a body of Catalonian adventurers, who 
were ready to sell their swords and their blood to the best 
paymaster. These intrepid mercenaries, armed with a small 



GREEK EMPIRE. 357 

buckler, a sword, and a few javelins, were immediately sent 
against the Turks. The success of their first campaign sur- 
passed their employer's hopes ; but the empire had no longer 
at its disposal the treasures with which the Comneni had 
bought the aid of the Russians, the Normans, and the English. 
Roger de Flor, the brave chief of the Catalonians, conquered 
the Turks, and demanded his reward. His troops were paid 
with counterfeit money, and he was assassinated. The Cata- 
lonians, in their fury, massacred the inhabitants of Gallipoli, 
and soon their bands, under the name of armies of the Franks, 
annihilated the imperial troops which were brought against 
them. They devastated the shores of the Black Sea, and re- 
mained masters of Thrace (1307). Encamping at the gates 
of Constantinople, they held the city in terror for five years, 
till at length, weakened by their own dissensions, they were 
compelled to retreat. The emperor thought himself fortunate 
in being able to turn their ravages against the duchy of 
Athens, no longer a part of the empire, and which they con- 
quered (1312), and disposed of several times. They then 
disappeared from history ; but the memory of their terrible 
vengeance long remained engraved in the minds of the in- 
habitants of the East. The empire had just lost too the island 
of Rhodes, which was taken by the knights of St. John (1309), 
who did not stop their conquests till they had made them- 
selves masters of several islands of the Archipelago. 

323. Religious and political Disputes. — The Turks called 
in as Auxiliaries. — The Greeks, having escaped this double 
danger, returned to their religious disputes. Fanatical 
monks sustained, with all the obstinacy of their oi'der, absurd 
doctrines and foolish dreams, which were opposed in a council 
assembled in St. Sophia. Andronicus III. (1328-1341) took 
part in the quarrel, made a new attempt to bring about the 
reunion of the two churches, and died of fatigue after a vio- 
lent controversy (1341). The favorite John Catacuzene, 



358 OTTOMAN TURKS. 

who had supported his feeble master by his advice and exam- 
ple, had refused the crown which the emperor in his discou- 
ragement had wished to force upon him ; but after the death 
of Andronicus, he wrested the throne from John PaJeoIogus, 
to whom he had been appointed guardian (1347). The ri- 
valry of these two pretenders gave the final blow to the em- 
pire. John Paleologus had taken Turkish troops in pay. 
Catacuzene called to his aid other tribes of Mussulmen, re- 
turned with their assistance to Constantinople, and, to secure 
their alliance, gave his daughter to Ourkhan, chief of the 
Ottoman hordes. Then, to escape this dangerous protection, 
he was reconciled to the young Paleologus. But it was in 
vain. The influence of the Turks increased daily, and Ca- 
tacuzene, wearied with a fruitless resistance, descended from 
the throne to seek repose in a cloister (1355). His son 
Matthew, untaught by the experience of his father, began 
anew the contest with Paleologus, and each in turn put him- 
self under the protection of the Turks. At last, Paleologus 
conquered, but the Turks, who had come to Constantinople 
as allies, swore that they would return as masters. 



§11. 



OTTOMAN TURKS. 

324. Beginning of the potver of the Ottomans. — It was no 
longer the Seljuks that ruled in Asia Minor. Their em- 
pire, subdued by the Moguls, had been definitively divided at 
the death of Alaeddin, the Seljuk sultan (1037), into ten 
small independent states, one of which was destined to rise 
upon the accumulated ruins of Iconium and Constantinople. 
It owed its origin to a little tribe which came from Khorassan 
under the guidance of Ertoghrul, and found in his son Os- 



OTTOMAN TURKS. 359 

man an intrepid chief, and the founder of the Ottoman domi- 
nion. Osman was already distinguished by his exploits when 
his father died (1288). The next year, he received from the 
Sultan Alaeddin the title of prince, with a fief which he soon 
enlarged at the expense of the Greeks ; and, continuing his 
conquests during a career of thirty-eight years, he crowned 
them at last by the taking of Pruse or Broussa, one of the 
most important cities of Asia Minor. Proud of having won 
a capital and a tomb worthy of him, he died in 1326, covered 
with glory, and venerated by the Ottomans, who were proud 
to think that his enterprising spirit and dauntless courage 
were united with all the great qualities which distinguish the 
founders of empires. 

325. Conquests of Ourklian and Amurat I. in Europe. 
— Ourkhan, Osman's son and successor, followed up his suc- 
cesses in Asia Minor, favored by the dissensions of the feeble 
pretenders who contended for the empire of Constantinople. 
Nicomedia and Nice fell into his power in succession (1328- 
1330). The conquest of the Turkoman states of Asia Mi- 
nor, and the taking of Gallipoli (1357), led the Ottomans to 
the gates of Constantinople. In less than a century (1363- 
1357) they had already made seventeen descents upon Eu- 
rope, and shaken to its foundations the throne of the Greek 
emperors, which Catacuzene vainly sought to strengthen by 
giving Ourkhan his daughter in marriage (1347). This 
prince, whose name is still held in veneration by the Turks, 
founded the Ottoman power on energetic institutions. It 
was he that instituted the magistracy of the Cadis. The 
organization of the janizaries (yenitscheri, new troop,) is 
also attributed to him, a formidable soldiery, composed of 
Christian slaves brought up in the faith of Mahomet, which, 
abjuring family, country, and religion, was to find them 
all in passive obedience to the will of its chief. 

Mourad or Amurat I. (1359-1389), Ourkhan's succes- 



360 OTTOMAN TURKS. 

sor, interested the janizaries in his conquests by giving 
them military benefices. These new troops were, fi'om their 
origin, the terror of the Christians, as they afterwards be- 
came of the sultans themselves. Amurat invaded the pro- 
vinces of the empire with a frightful rapidity, and forced 
Paleologus to accommpany him on an expedition against 
some governors of Asia. Soon Ancyra and Adrianople 
opened their gates to him, while Ai'menia yielded almost 
without resistance. Lewis the Great, king of Hungary, was 
defeated near Adrianople, which he had not been able to 
succor. In vain the terrified Paleologus ran to Italy to 
abjure the schism before Urban V. (1370); he could not ob- 
tain a single soldier from the people of the West, and on his 
return he found Amurat master of Acarnania and Macedon. 
The chief of the little kingdom of Servia alone continued to 
resist the infidels with unshaken courage. Conquered at 
Belgrade in 1383, he took up arms again with the aid of the 
kings of Bosnia and Bulgaria, and attacked Amurat at the 
head of a formidable army. The Turks were again victo- 
rious at Cassovo (1389) ; but Amurat fell in the conflict. 

326. Exploits of Bajazet I. — Battle of Nicopolis. — Dis- 
tress of the Eastern Empire, — Three great princes had suc- 
ceeded each other at the head of the empire. But their 
glory was effaced by that of Bayezid, or Bajazet I. (1389- 
1403), Amurat's son, who, by the rapidity of his conquests, 
won the surname of Yilderim (lightning). John Paleologus, 
who had displayed a lamentable weakness with Amurat, was 
the plaything of the new sultan. He had had marble towers 
built near the golden gate of Constantinople. He tore them 
down at the threat of Bajazet. His son Manuel, escaping 
from the Turks who had held him prisoner, tried to resist 
the haughty enemy. Bajazet instantly resumed the course 
of his conquests ; took Philadelphia — the last possession of 
the Greeks in Asia Minoi' — and the strong city of Thessalo- 



OTTOMAN TURKS. 361 

nica; razed all the villages around Constantinople, and 
terrified the imperial city itself by a five years' siege, 
which at last he only raised to invade Hungary, where he 
was called by the tributaries of King Sigismund. Sigis- 
mund called Europe to defend a cause which was common 
to all Christendom. A crusade of Italian adventurers, 
and German and French knights commanded by the cele- 
brated John the Bold, was formed against the infidels. The 
Christian army, composed of a hundred and thirty thousand 
men, revived Sigismund's courage. " What have we to fear 
from the Turks ?" said he ; " if the heavens should fall, we 
have lances enough to hold them up." But victory decided 
for Bajazet in spite of the valor of the Christian knights ; and 
the massacre of ten thousand prisoners avenged the death of 
the Mussulmen who had fallen in the plains of Nicopolis 
(1396). 

Bajazet, victorious but exhausted, returned to seek easier 
triumphs in the East, and govern the emperors of Constanti- 
nople at will. He had a mosque built within the city, and 
established a cadi there to judge the disputes of Mussulmen. 
Constantinople seemed already conquered. Manuel had quit 
his capital, and was trying to rouse the enthusiasm of the 
Christians of the West for a new crusade. But Europe was 
weary of those eternal complaints, and Manuel's long journey 
only served him to study the manners and usages of the 
West. The duke of Milan sent him to the king of France, 
the king of France to the king of England. Every body 
distrusted him as an importunate beggar, unworthy of aid 
and even of pity. Meanwhile Bajazet was enjoying his 
grandeur and his power, amid the luxuries of his magnificent 
residence of Broussa. Among his slaves there were repre- 
sentatives of all the nations of the earth ; and he was only 
waiting for an occasion to annihilate the last fragments of the 
dominion of the Greeks, and transport the seat of his power 

16 



362 TAMERLANE. 



to the imperial city. But all of a sudden there came a 
frightful invasion, which put an end to his success and his 
reign, and retarded for a few years the fall of Constantinople. 



§ III. 

TABIERLANE. 

327. Tamerlane — His conquests. — Battle of Ancyra. — 
The chief of one of the tribes of the dismembered empire of 
Genghis Khan, Timour, surnamed Lenk or the lame, whom 
European historians call Tamerlane, had been stripped of his 
inheritance while a child, and sought a compensation by put- 
ting himself at the head of some wandering Tartars (about 
1360). These soon grew to an army, which he enriched 
with plunder ; and causing himself to be proclaimed sove- 
reign of Samarcand, he put on a golden crown, and swore 
war against all the people of the earth. Rapid victories soon 
made him master of Upper Asia, or rather all the countries 
through which he passed from the Indus to the Tanais, were 
covered with blood and ruins. A new Genghis Khan seemed 
to have arisen to terrify the world. 

Some Seljuk emir of Asia Minor called him against 
Bajazet, who replied to his menaces by insulting his messen- 
gers. Tamerlane fell upon Asia Minor, leaving behind him 
Damascus and Bagdad in ruins, and a pyramid of ninety thou- 
sand human heads. The two great rulers of the East, Bajazet 
and Tamerlane, met at Ancyra. In spite of the furious re- 
sistance of the janizaries and the brilliant courage of the 
Christians of Servia, who cut their way three times through 
the enemy's ranks, Bajazet's hundred thousand soldiers 
could not stand the shock of eight hundred thousand Moguls. 
Bajazet was taken — the only living man in the midst of all 



TAMERLANE. 363 

his slaughtered janizaries (1402). Tameriane, as if he scorn- 
ed a victory of which he was so sure, was playing chess with 
his son when the conquered prince was brought before him. 
The haughty firmness of the captive pleased the victor, who 
kept him near his own person in an easy captivity. The 
sultan died the next year (1403), and Tamerlane did not 
survive him long (1405). 

328. Dissolution of Tamerlane'' s empire. — The Turks re- 
commence their conquests. — Tamerlane's empire met the 
same fate with that of Alexander, which it surpassed in ex- 
tent : and of this immense dominion nothing remained but 
the empire of the Great Mogul on the north of India, which 
lasted to our own times. The Christians of Constantinople 
had a moment of hope ; for there was great confusion after 
Bajazet's defeat, and the quarrels of his sons made it still 
greater. Soliman the Audacious (1403-1410) restored 
several cities to the emperor Manuel in order to obtain his 
protection. But the victory of Semendria, gained by Musa 
over the emperor Sigismund, and the accession oi Mahomet I. 
(1413-1421) — the murderer of his brothers — rekindled the 
terrors of Constantinople. Still Mahomet respected to the 
day of his death the alliance which he had sworn. His 
warlike activity was turned against the successors of Tamer- 
lane, while, on his side, the emperor of the East was care- 
fully fortifying the barriers of the empire. After the death 
of Bajazet's son (1421), Manuel tried to divide, by force of 
intrigue, the reviving power of the Ottomans. But Amurat 
II. (1421-1451), victorious over the rival whom the emperor 
had set up against him, avenged himself by laying siege to 
Constantinople. A diversion, caused by a revolt which the 
intriguing genius of the emperor had stirred up, saved the 
city ; and John III, Paleologus (1425-1448), Manuel's suc- 
cessor, concluded a peace with the sultan, who turned his 



864 TAMERLANE. 

arms against Hungary, where a formidable league was form- 
ing against the infidels. 

329. Contests of Hunnyades Corvinus and Scanderbeg 
against the Infidels. — But Belgrade checked his career. 
This city was defended by a hero, John Hunnyades Corvinus, 
whom the Turks in their fright called the Devil, and to 
whom the Hungarians applied these words of the Gospel : — 
" There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." 
Hunnyades forced Amurat to retreat, after having sustained 
for six months the efforts of an immense army (1443). The 
loss of ten battles punished Amurat for having dared to at- 
tack Catholic Europe, and a treaty was signed by which the 
Sultan swore to restore Servia and not to ravage Hungary. 

All the advantages of this treaty were lost by the impru- 
dent zeal of a papal legate. The young king of Hungary, 
instigated to war, organized a crusade. A numerous army, 
composed of Hungarians, Poles, Bohemians, and Germans, 
went to meet Amurat's army in Bulgaria. The two armies 
met near Varna. The sultan caused the treaty, which had 
just been sworn, to be carried before the ranks, and invoked 
the vengeance of God on the perjured Christians ; and as if 
his prayer had been granted, he won a complete victory. 
Vladislas was killed in the conflict, and Hunnyades fled for 
the first time, confessing that it was an act of divine ven- 
geance (1444). 

Then, too, appeared another intrepid defender of liberty 
and religion, George Castriota, surnamed Scanderheg, prince 
of Albania. He had been brought up among the Turks, and 
on recovering his liberty, renounced Islamism, which they 
had compelled him to adopt, and became their deadliest enemy. 
At the head of his brave mountaineers, he freed himself from 
the sovereignty of the Ottomans (1438), repulsed twice the 
attacks of Amurat, and baffled in his capital, the little city of 
Croia, all the efforts of the infidel. 



TAKING OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 365 

§ IV. 

TAKING OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 

330. Mahomet II. and Constantine XII. — Taking of Con- 
stantinople. ■> — The Turkish and Greek empire changed mas- 
ters. Amurat II. and John III., Paleologus, were followed by 
Mahomet 11. in 1451, and Constantine XII. in 1448 ; one of 
whom was to be the last emperor of the Greeks, and the other 
the conqueror of Constantinople. From the beginning of his 
reign, Mahomet announced himself as the most implacable 
and ferocious enemy of the Christians. A fortress which he 
built upon the shores of Thrace, and armed with a monstrous 
cannon, which sent a ball of six hundred pounds a thousand 
paces, shut up the entrance of the Bosphorus for the Chris- 
tians. Constantine, feeling that the final hour was come, 
gave one more alarm-cry, which resounded vainly through 
the West. He would have renewed the union of the two 
churches, and saved his throne at the expense of his creed ; 
but the people, clinging firmly to their faith in this last hour, 
spurned even the aid of the Latins, crying out that they 
would rather accept the turban of Mahomet than the tiara of 
the pope. Constantine, who had obtained only the aid of two 
thousand Genoese, could scarcely find in Constantinople five 
thousand fighting men to oppose the countless army of Ma- 
homet. The siege began the 6th of April, 1453. The last 
of the Caears fell like a hero. For fifty-three days, and se- 
conded by the brave Justinian, he sustained with indefatiga- 
ble valor the efforts of Mahomet, and the furious assaults of 
the janizaries. At length, the Ottomans made a general 
assault. Constantine, conscious that he could no longer re- 
sist, prepared to die with the remnants of his garrison. The 
anizaries soon poured in upon the defenceless ramparts; 



366 THE MUSSULMAN AND CHRISTIAN STATES. 

and the emperor, stripping off his golden armor, rushed head- 
long into the conflict, and fell without being recognized. 
Mahomet entered the conquered city in triumphal array. 
The capital of the Caesars became the capital of the Sultan, 
and in a few years all the possessions of the Greek empire 
acknowledged his sway. 



PAET SECOND. 

THE RESPECTIVE POWER AND SITUATION OF THE MUSSULMAN 
AND CHRISTIAN STATES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

331. State of the Ottoman power, and of the other Mus- 
sulman dominions. — The taking of Constantinople, which 
crowned the establishment of the Ottoman empire in Europe, 
was the last great progress of the last invasion of the bai'- 
barians. The eastern gate of Europe had fallen, as Spain, 
the western barrier, had fallen long before. Constantine had 
closed the list of emperors, as Roderic had closed that of the 
Visigothic kings, and both died in battle against the enemies 
of the Christian name. But as the invasion of the Mussulmen, 
in the eighth century, had been checked beyond the Pyrenees 
by the valor of the Franks, so in the fifteenth, John Hunnyades 
and the Albanian Scanderbeg (v. Mod. Hist. ch. i. § 1), renew- 
ing the exploits of Charles Martel, were to stay the march of 
the infidel and save Christianity. 

The definitive triumph of the Turks in the east of Europe 
had been prepared by a long series of successes. The throne 
of the Csesars had long been tottering on the brink of the 
abyss. The empire had seen its provinces slip one by one 
from its grasp, and its strength and its splendor fade gradually 



THE MUSSULMAN .AND CHRISTIAN STATES. 367 

away. The Turks, constantly in arms, had ravaged the 
open country, carried ofT women, children, and priests, by 
crowds, to sell them as slaves, or transport them into Asia. 
Eastern colonies had established themselves in the dwellings 
of the exile, and the opulence of the new inhabitants seemed 
a mockery of the wretchedness of the Greeks. The empe- 
rors, so passionately fond of brilliant ceremonial, had been 
compelled to renounce their ancient pomp. False diamonds 
had replaced the imperial jewelry, their plate was changed 
for pewter, and their golden cups for copper. The Mussul- 
men had divided among them the shreds of the impoverished 
and depopulated empire, before they gave it the fatal blow. 
While the imperial domains were reduced to a few villages 
in the neighborhood of Constantinople, and a part of the Mo- 
rea, the Ottomans were masters of all Asia Minor, from the 
Euphrates and the confines of the little empire of Trebizond 
to the western coast. In Europe, their power extended to the 
banks of the Danube, to the mountains of Bosnia and Alba- 
nia, and into the very heart of Greece. 

In spite of the divisions of the ancient empire of the Ca- 
liphs, the different Mussulman dominions, which had been 
formed from its fragments, occupied a vast portion of the 
globe. The Turkomans shared central Asia with the Mo- 
guls. Egypt and Syria were in the power of the Mamelukes. 
The kingdoms of Tunis, of Tremesen, and of Morocco, filled 
Northern Africa, and the kingdom of Grenada was still 
standing in Spain. 

332. General situation of Europe. — The reaction of the 
Christian against the Mussulman world was still very far off. 
At the moment when the contest, which had begun in the 
East, seemed about to call all Europe to the field, she had 
opposed to the Turks only the valor of a few princes in their 
immediate vicinity, the fleets of Venice, the heroism of the 
knights of Rhodes, worthy successors of the knights of Pales- 



368 THE MUSSULMAN AND CHRISTIAN STATES. 

tine, and the fruitless zeal of the popes. While the popes 
vainly raised their voices to rekindle the ardor of the cru- 
sades, the nations of Europe, weak and divided, thought 
only of consolidating their own constitutions. No great 
power had yet risen to put itself at the head of a European 
movement. The temporal supremacy of the popes was de- 
stroyed. The imperial power had not been re-established, 
and Europe had no political centre. 

333. States of the North. — The three Scandinavian 
powers destroyed the work of Margaret, breaking the union 
of Calmar after the death of Christopher the Bavarian. The 
contest of Charles VIII. of Sweden, and' Christian I. of Den- 
mark, for the possession of Norway, show the first results of 
the division of the people of the North. In Russia, the mo- 
ment had not yet come when the Sclavonic power was to re- 
cover its unity and power, Vasili, or Basil III., sometimes 
tributary, sometimes captive of the Tartars, was also obliged 
to contend for his throne, with the princes of his family, and 
though he succeeded in reuniting to his domain a great num- 
ber of small independent states, he vainly sought to repel the 
yoke of the Mogul Khans, the founders of the Golden Horde. 

The dominion of the Teutonic knights begins to be seri- 
ously menaced by the progress of a national party, which is 
soon to become the Prussian people. In 1453 a league of cities 
and nobles refused obedience to the Order, and put itself tra- 
der the protection of Poland, which, though recently subject 
to the influence of the knights, had recovered under the Ja- 
gellons her strength and her independence. Casimir IV. had 
extended his domains to the shores of the Baltic, at the expense 
of the Teutonic order, and succeeded in maintaining the 
union of Poland with the duchy of Lithuania. But already 
the power of the nobility, whose privilege Casimir himself 
had been compelled to secure by oath, begins to rise up 
against the royal power, and it is already easy to foresee 



THE MUSSULMAN AND CHRISTIAN STATES. 369 

that series of rivalries and fatal disputes, which were one day 
to deprive Poland of the preponderance which she had so labo- 
riously won by five centuries of combats and persevering 
efforts. 

334. France and England. — France, on the contrary, 
issuing from the long contest between the king and the feudal 
nobility, was approaching an epoch of unity and strength. 
The English had lost Normandy by the battle of Formigny 
(1448), and Guyenne by that of Castillon (1451). Charles 
VII., master at last of the whole French territory, begins to 
introduce order and system in its government. The formation 
of the parliament of Toulouse, formed on the model of that 
of Paris, places Guyenne and Languedoc under the control of 
royal justice, and the creation of a standing army frees the 
king forever from the dictation of the feudal . aristocracy. 
Charles VII., wholly devoted to his work of restoration, 
would not listen to the urgent entreaties of the Greeks, nor 
hazard the success of so much care by a distant war and an 
adventurous expedition. It was enough for his glory to have 
ended the long rivalry between France and England, by secu- 
ring the triumph of his own country. 

Henry VI., driven from France, where he had nothing 
left but the city of Calais, did not even know how to defend 
his power against the insubordination of his own subjects. 
England, under the government of this feeble monarch, was 
rent by domestic troubles, the prelude of that famous war of 
the two roses, with which her modern history begins. Scot- 
land, where the royal authority seemed to have been annihi- 
lated during the long captivity of James I., a prisoner of the 
English, was occupied like France with the reorganization of 
her government ; and the contests between the king and the 
nobles, marked by the assassination of James I., were resumed 
with energy by James II., the heir of his father's policy. 

335. Germany and Switzerland. — In the German empire 

16* 



370 THE BIITSSULMAN AND CHRISTIAN STATES. 

power was still in the period of decay. The results of the 
successful efforts of Albert of Austria were wholly lost by the 
incapacity of Frederic III., skilful and persevering only in 
the aggrandizement of his own family — an aggrandizement, 
however, which prepares the way for the restoration of the 
imperial power. Frederic, "who had solemnly renounced all 
the pretensions of the emperors over Rome, and permitted all 
the princes of the empire to assume a real independence, 
could not think of re-establishing the imperial supremacy 
over that invincible confederation of Helvetia, whose young 
existence was already brilliant with glory. Morgarten and 
Sempach, those wonderful exploits of the middle ages, will be 
followed in modern history by the no less splendid triumphs 
over Charles the Rash. In the east of Germany, the crowns 
of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia, the futui'e patrimony ot 
the imperial family, were united upon the brow of Ladislaus 
the Posthumous. Hungary and Bohemia, placed in the ad- 
vance guard of Europe, have an incessant contest to maintain 
against the Ottomans — an heroic struggle, which forms the 
glory of John Hunnyades Corvinus. But after the death of the 
defender of Christendom, the provinces of Bosnia, Croatia, 
Vallachia, and Moldavia, which were dependent upon Hun- 
gary, were wrested from it one by one, while the last efforts 
of the Hussites excited new troubles in Bohemia. 

336. Italy. — Italy was split up into minuter divisions 
than any country of Europe, and her domestic dissensions 
soon prepared the way for foreign influence. In the North 
the Sforzas reigned over the Milanese, united with Parma 
and Piacenza. The house of Este, celebrated for the good 
fortune, which interwove its name at so cheap a rate with 
some of the brighest laurels of the Italian Parnassus, held 
Ferrara and Modena. Venice still preserved her enei'gy 
under the iron sway of her inquisitors, although her period of 
decay had already begun. Mistress of Treviso, Verona, Padua, 



THE BIirSSULMAN AND CHRISTIAN STATES. 371 

Brescia, and Bergamo, she held the predominance in northern 
Italy, and still ruled the sea by her numerous fleets. But 
the progress of the Turks, favored by the imprudent rivalry 
between Venice and Genoa, stripped both of these powerful 
republics of the most important of their possessions beyond 
the Adriatic. Pisa, the ancient rval of Genoa, had fallen from 
her rank among the Italian states, and was subjected to Flo- 
rence, which, under the prudent and skilful administration of 
Cosimo dei Medici, exercised an incontestable supremacy 
over the cities of Tuscany. Lucca alone had preserved her 
independence. The two Sicilies, governed by Alphonso the 
Magnanimous, had reached the summit of their grandeur and 
prosperity. Letters and art, under the protection of this 
prince, shed their splendor around his throne. But Alphon- 
so's death marked the close of this brilliant period, and, after 
long and bitter contests, gave southern Italy to a foreign do- 
minion. At Rome, the pontifical power was nearly confined 
within the limits of its spiritual authority, and the pope no 
longer gave laws to the city and the world {urhi et orhi) as 
common father of all believers. Nicholas V. strove to heal 
the deep wounds which the schism of the West had inflicted 
upon the church. Yet in the midst of his pontifical cares he 
did not forget the political role which his predecessors had 
filled with so much splendor. He alone, at the sight of the 
progress of the infidels, called Europe to a powerful and 
magnanimous efibrt. He alone strove to save Constantinople 
and organize an energetic resistance against the Mussuhnen. 
His paternal solicitude, fruitless amid the discords of the 
West, was useful at least to his own country, when he con- 
tributed to the conclusion of the treaty of Lodi, an attempt, 
unfortunately not successful, to put an end to the deep-rooted 
divisions of Italy and secure her independence. 

337. Spain and Portugal. — The Spanish peninsula, on 
the contrary, was tending towards a great and powerful unity. 



372 THE MUSSULMAN AND CHRISTIAN STATES. 

The Christian kingdoms of Castile, Navarre, and Aragon, 
and the Moorish kingdom of Grenada, still separated and 
agitated by violent contests, vs^ere soon to be united for the 
good and the glory of all Spain. The little kingdom of Por- 
tugal, impatient within its narrow limits, and with its eyes 
constantly turned towards the western seas, had opened, un- 
der Alphonso the African, that career of great discoveries, 
which, before the end of the century, was to lead her beyond 
the cape of Good Hope. Meanwhile, an obscure Genoese 
was medidating that daring enterprise which gave Spain a 
new world. Modern Europe reveals herself with her won- 
derful destinies. 



CHAPTER XX. 

SUMMAEY NOTION'S OF THE AETS, LITEEATTJEE, THE 
SCIENCES, AND COMMEECE IN EUEOPE, FEOM 
CHAELEMAGNE TO THE TAKING- OF CONSTAN- 
TINOPLE. 



SUMMAEY. 

§ I. Revival of Letters under Charlemagne. — Decay in the tenth 
century. — Separation of the Teutonic and Romance languages. — Influ- 
ence of the Latin language. — Revival of intellectual activity at the end 
of the tenth century. — Development of Scholastic Philosophy. — Instruc- 
tion spreads and becomes more regular. — Creation of universities. — 
Disputes of the Realists and Nominalists. 

§ II, National literatures. — The language of Oc and the Trouba- 
dours ; the language of Oil and the Trouveres. — French prose and poet- 
ry. — Spanish literature. — Italian literature. — Dante. — Petrarch. — Boc- 
cacio. — English literature. — Sclavonic and Scandinavian literature. — 
Greek literature. 

§ III. Roman and Byzantine architecture. — Ogival architecture. — 
Painting. — Sculpture. — Music. — Sciences. — Principal inventions. 

§ IV. Internal commerce. — Organization of industry. 



LATIN LITEKATURE. — SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY. 

338. Revival of Letters under Charlemagne. — At the 
epoch in which Charlemagne appeared, ignorance had inva- 



374 LATIN LITERATURE. 

ded all classes of society. The last vestiges of the Roman 
science and civilization of the fourth and fifth centuries had 
disappeared with the introduction of the barbarians into the 
church, and the scandalous union of military and ecclesiasti- 
cal life. 

Charlemagne began by re-establishing discipline in the 
church, the decay of which had led to the decay of instruc- 
tion. Then he called together the most learned men of all 
countries to labor with him for the revival of science and 
literature. There were seen the learned Peter of Pisa ; the 
German Leirade, archbishop of Lyons; the Goth Theodulph, 
bishop of Orleans; the abby of Fontenelle ; Ansegisius, editor 
of the first collection of the Capitularies, and the Frank 
Egmhard, secretary and historiographer of the emperor, and 
the most remarkable writer of this epoch. At their head 
was Alcuin (died 804), deacon of the church of York, but 
educated in Italy, where the vestiges of Roman civilization 
had been better preserved than in any other country. 
Charles was his first scholar (v. no. 139). The emperor 
founded in his own palace, under the name of palatine school, 
a school for the education of the children of the nobles, and 
caused a great many other schools to be opened near the 
churches and monasteries, in the hope of preparing the way, 
by a common education, for the fusion of all these different 
people. The movement spread beyond his states. The 
missionary, St. Anscharius, founded schools in the north of 
Germany, and St. Dunstan in England; Cyril and Methodius 
among the Bulgarians, Moravians, and Bohemians. The 
writings of the fathers were translated into Sclavonian. In 
Russia, three hundred youths were received into the college 
of Jaroslaf. 

The preservation of the old models had been the principal 
end of Charlemagne's first efforts. But while he favored the 
study of Latin and Greek, as indispensable to theology, he 



LATIN LITERATURE. 375 

took care also of his mother tongue, causing the war-songs of 
the old Germans to be collected, and a German grammar 
compiled. 

The arts and sciences were less fortunate than literature. 
Although architecture, according to his contemporaries, was 
assiduously cultivated, no remarkable monument has I'eached 
us, and painting and sculpture made no progress. The columns 
and mosaics of the palace of Aix la Chapelle were brought 
from Ravenna. 

839. Decay at the end of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. 
— The great emperor's work of civilization was as short- 
lived as that of political organization. It was in vain that 
his immediate successors, Lewis the Debonnaire and Charles 
the Bald, held out a generous protection to studies, and that 
some men who had been formed by Charlemagne strove to 
continue his age. After the historian Eginhard (d. 839), in 
whose principal work, the Life of Charlemagne, there is a 
unity of exposition, a clearness of style, and sometimes a cri- 
tical judgment, which raise it far above all the works of this 
period ; and after the Irish theologian, John Scotus Erigina 
(9th cent.), whose bold speculations are the forerunners of 
scholastic theology, disastrous influences seemed to stifle the 
progress of the human mind. 

The preponderance of feudality, which was the triumph 
of brute force, was an indirect attack upon the civilization 
which had been protected by royalty and the clergy. At the 
same time, the invasion of the northern barbarians plunged 
Europe once more into a universal chaos, while the progress 
of the Mussulmen, masters of Asia and Egypt, gave a fatal 
blow to literature by cutting off* the supply of papyrus, the 
only cheap and generally accessible material for writing. It 
is to this also that we are to attribute the loss of many pre- 
cious writings of classic antiquity, which were effaced to 
prepare the parchment on which they were written for re- 



376 LATIN LITERATURE. 

ceiving some notarial act, or the legend of some popular 
saint. 

- The Northmen, who had not taken a part in the first in- 
vasion, attacked the rising society of the middle ages, as their 
predecessors had attacked that of the old empire. The mo- 
nasteries were burnt or plundered, with the libraries which 
they contained ; and those of the conquerors who took orders 
carried into the church the coarse and turbulent habits of 
their former life. Some schools, and among them that of St. 
Germain of Auxerre in Paris, dragged on a feeble existence 
till the end of the ninth century. But in the course of the 
next century, every trace of instruction was lost. England, 
which had been animated for a moment by the glorious exam- 
ple of Alfred the Great, shared the general desolation during 
the ravages of the Danes. The tenth century is one of the 
saddest for literary as well as for political history, though 
France and Germany were far from being so badly off as 
Italy and England. 

340. Influence of the Latin Language. — Still, the prin- 
ciple of unity was not wholly destroyed by this universal dis- 
organization. At the dissolution of the Carolingian empire, 
languages, like nations, were divided. The Germans took 
the Tudesque, the remains of their old national idiom ; the 
people, who had once been subjects of the empire, the 
Romance, a corruption of the language of the former 
masters of the world. But as a supreme power gradually 
rose in the midst of the divided society of the tenth century, 
so one language rose above all others, and preserved its pre- 
ponderance. The Latin language, at once the symbol and 
the instrument of the religious unity of the middle ages, con- 
tinued to be the language of the church as well as the lan- 
guage of learning and politics. It was in this language that 
the learned men of one country held communication with 
those of another — that the sharpest controversies about 



LATIN LITERATXTKE. 377 

church and empire were carried on — that some of the most 
remarkable efforts of the human mind were displayed. Om- 
nis latinitas was the word used to designate the Christian 
and learned Europe of the age of St. Bernard. 

341. Intellectual activity revives at the end of the tenth 
century. — In the second half of the tenth century, intellectual 
activity begins to revive. Schools for the instruction of 
children are gradually re-opened. Abhon of Fleury and 
Fulbert of Chartres engage with ardor in the study of philo- 
sophy. The French Geriertus (d. 1003), archbishop of 
Rheims, then of Ravenna, and at last pope under the name of 
Sylvester II., friend and master of Hugh Capet, of Robert, 
and of the Emperor Otho III., was distinguished by a pro- 
found scientific knowledge, which he borrowed from the Arabs 
in Spain, and the Italians in Rome, and by important disco- 
veries in natural philosophy, mechanics and mathematics, 
which made his ignorant contemporaries suspect him of 
magic. 

The glory of forming almost all the great men of the ele- 
venth century belongs to Italy. Lanfranc, who was born at 
Pavia, gave renown by his learning to the Abbey of Jumieges, 
which produced so many eminent men, and then passed into 
England with William of Normandy to mitigate the evils of 
the conquest, and continue in the chair of Canterbury the 
work of civilization which had been begun by Alfred the 
Great (d. 1089). His successor to the archbishopric of Can- 
terbury, Anselm, like him an Italian (d. 1109), displayed 
perhaps less imagination but more elevation and boldness. 
He introduces philosophy into the domain of theology, enters 
firmly upon the great problem of the agreement of faith and 
reason, and without straying from the Catholic dogma, recog- 
nizes the rights of the human mind. In his Monologium, he 
proves the existence of God by the same principle which was 
afterwards developed by Descartes. His Proslogium contains 



878 LATIN LITERATURE. 

the profoundest considerations upon divine science. Modern 
philosophy pays increasing homage to his eminent and long- 
neglected merit. 

342. Scholastic Philosophy. — Contest between St. Bernard 
and Ahelard.— Thus begins the great science of the middle 
ages, scholastic pMlosopht/, or the application of dialectics 
to theology, which, like the philosophy of all ages, discusses 
the gravest and most important questions, but resolves them 
by the light of revealed dogmas. Whatever may have been 
said of scholastic philosophy by those who never took the 
pains to study it — whatever we may think of those subtle 
forms of argumentation, unskilfully imitated from the catago- 
ries of Aristotle, but which had nevertheless the merit of 
giving the mind an incredible vigor and suppleness — no one 
now dares to treat as idle questions and sterile disputes those 
discussions of the schools which led to the foundation of uni- 
versities throughout Europe, raised theological science to the 
highest point, and laid the foundations of the greater part of 
modern sciences. From the beginning of the twelfth century 
Paris witnessed the brilliant lessons of Abelard (1079-1142), 
the completes! representative of the science of his age. From 
the summit of Mount St. Genevieve Abelard electrified thou- 
sands of hearers by his powerful eloquence, and, exiled by 
the influence of his enemies, saw the solitude suddenly peo- 
pled by an immense multitude. All Christendom followed 
with anxiety his theological contests with St. Bernard (1091 
-1153), who, victorious over his redoubtable adversary, com- 
pelled him publicly to retract his errors. St. Bernard exer-. 
cised a prodigious authority over his age, appearing as great 
in the schools as in those assemblies where his enthusiastic 
eloquence drew kings and people to the crusades. 

343. Development of Public Instruction. — Foundatio7i of 
Universities. — In the midst of all this intellectual activity, 
instruction begins to be developed and systematized. At the 



LATIN LITERATURE. 379 

beginning of the twelfth century, lay schools were formed at 
the side of the ecclesiastical schools, and began those lessons 
of Roman and canon law which were destined to exercise 
so great an influence. Jenerius (towards 1140) commentates 
the Pandects with success, attracting a large number of 
young men to Bologna by his lessons. His scholars spread 
over France and England, and soon sovereigns, struck with 
the regularity of Roman legislation, compared with the un- 
certainty of their customs, begin to call lawyers to their aid, 
and adopt in their acts the forms of the imperial constitutions. 
It was at Bologna, too, that a monk named Gratian (towards 
1160) compiled a collection of canons for instruction in ec- 
clesiastical law, which was approved by Eugene III. The 
tribunals as well as the schools drew eagerly from this 
fruitful source, which was constantly enriched by new con- 
tributions, till pope Gregory, causing to be published un- 
der the title of Decretals, the complete collection of ponti- 
fical decisions, established the principles of canon law. 

The importance of these new objects of instruction reacted 
upon the organization of the schools, which- was suddenly 
strengthened and enlarged. In the first year of the thirteenth 
century several professors, who had till then been teaching 
separately, obtained a common constitution, and formed a 
kind of corporation of teachers. Thus was founded the uni- 
versity of Paris, which by its learning and independence ex- 
ercised an immense influence over Christian and political 
Europe. 

The impulse once given, similar associations sprang up 
on all sides. The most celebrated universities which were 
then founded were those of Paris, founded in 1200; Sala- 
manca, 1223; Naples, 1224; Cambridge, 12.31; Vienna, 
1236; Upsal, 1240; Montpellier, 1283; Lisbon, 1290; Or- 
leans, 1305 ; Oxford, 1206. 

The university of Paris soon saw the most distinguished 



380 LATIN LITERATURE. 

men of England, Italy, Spain, Germany, and the whole 
North, flock thither to complete their studies at this centre 
of science and learning. Theological disputes were car- 
ried on with increasing brilliancy in the higher depart- 
ments, while the masters of the arts initiated the younger 
students into the seven branches of study : the trivium and 
quadrivium grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics, arithmetic, geo- 
metry, music, and astronomy. 

344. Disputes of the Realists and Nominalists. — Alher- 
tus Magnus. — St. Thomas. — The great dispute of the Real- 
ists and Nominalists, which was to divide the philosophers 
and theologians of the middle ages, had already begun. 
Abelard's master, William of Champeaux, had taught that 
ideas were real and substantial beings. The Briton Roscel- 
linus, who had been condemned as a heretic for his opinions 
concerning the Trinity (1092), and after him the eloquent 
Abelard, maintained with Aristotle, the oracle of this epoch, 
that ideas were pure abstractions of the mind, having only a 
nominal existence. This discussion divided thinkers into 
two great schools, which agreed only on the common ground 
of religious faith. It was then that appeared Peter Lombard 
(d. 1160), author of the celebrated Book of Sentences, a col- 
lection of the principal philosophical opinions of the fathers, 
and Gilbert de la Poree (d. 1154), both Nominalists, and who 
were opposed by St. Bernard. Soon a profounder study of 
Aristotle's logic, which exercised an astonishing influence 
over this epoch, gave new strength to the human mind, and 
the names of Albertus Magnus, St. Thomas of Aquinas, and 
Duns Scotus, opened a still more brilliant period. The Ger- 
man Albertus Magnus (1193-1280) embraced in his range 
of inquiry theology, ethics, politics, and more particularly the 
natural sciences, natural philosophy, alchymy, astronomy, 
and mathematics. St. Thomas (1226-1274), born of a noble 
Sicilian family, and educated at the university of Paris, dis- 



FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN, ETC., LITERATURE. 381 

plays in all his writings a sublimity of views, a depth of 
judgment, and a knowledge of divine things, which procured 
him the name of the Angel of the Schools, and his Summa The- 
ologicB deserves to be placed by the side of the best writings 
of St. Augustine. Contemporary of the mystic St. Bonaven- 
tura (1221-1274), Duns Scotus (13th cent.), the Seraphic 
Doctor, devoted himself to dialectics and philosophical analy- 
sis, winning, by his attempts to found the experimental me- 
thod, the name of the subtle. He was chief of the Scottists, 
who opposed with implacable zeal the realist opinions of the 
disciples of St. Thomas. Raymond Lully (about 1315), the 
Enlightened Doctor, who invented a sort of logical mechanism 
for the guidance of the mind in reasoning, and Roger Bacon 
(1214-1292), learned in natural philosophy, and who endea- 
vored to separate the domains of philosophy and theology, 
followed the traces of Scotus. The tendencies of the fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries begin to appear. The contests of the 
middle ages gradually change their character. The English 
John Ockham (d. 1347), the French Peter of Ailly (1350- 
1420), and Gerson, the pious chancellor of the university 
(1353-1429), were the last champions of nominalism against 
the realist school of St. Thomas. 



§11. 

FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN, &C. LITERATURE. 

345. National Literatures. — Language of Oc and Trou- 
badours. — Language of Oil and Trouveres. — Scholastic phi- 
losophy, with its difficult forms and subtle distinctions, was 
on the eve of decay, when modern literature and the new 
languages began to mark out their places by immortal pro- 
ductions. From the tenth century, Europe was divided be- 



382 FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN, ETC., LITERATURE. 

tween four great national idioms, the Romance, Tudesque, 
Sclavonic, and that old Greek which still survived with the 
Eastern empire. 

France, Spain, and Italy, belong to the Romance. In 
the south of France was formed the Provenijal Romance, the 
language of Oc, so harmonious in the verses of the trouba- 
dours, noble knights, or poor villagers, ennobled by the gay 
science, who, accompanied hy l]\eiv jugglers, went round from 
castle to castle to sing their songs of love. The Provencal 
Romance, adorned by the light imagination of the South, and 
the imitation of the Arabic poetry, which gave it rhyme, had 
more grace than strength in spite of the bold satires of some 
daring thinkers, and the energetic hymns of the wai'like 
Bertram of Born, the Tyrtaeus of the middle ages, or of the 
valiant Richard of the lion heart. It fell without leaving 
any very remarkable monuments, amid the civil and religious 
wars which ensanguined the south of France during the 
thirteenth century. 

The Wallon Romance or language of OH was called to a 
higher destiny. The Normans, who, becoming the active 
agents of civilization, carried the old French into England 
and Italy, separated it by their influence from the language 
of Oc. It sets up the trouveres against the troubadours, and 
they celebrate in long poems the exploits of the heroes of 
antiquity and the middle ages in a style which, though less 
brilliant and sonorous, is more masculine and vigorous than 
that of their rivals of the South. Thus rise the great ro- 
mances of the Round Table, precursors of the famous Ro- 
mance of the Rose, the production of John of Meung and 
William of Lorris, the poetic glory of the thirteenth and four- 
teenth centuries. 

346. French Prose and Poetry. — More serious works 
had already marked the progress of that which was to be- 
come the French language. Villehardoin (1167-1213), the 



FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN, ETC., LITERATURE. 383 

historian of the fourth crusade, pleases by the artlessness 
and unformed rudeness of his language ; you feel that it is 
a new idiom relating things born at the same time with itself. 
Joi.nviUe (1223-1317) wrote, with a charming grace and sim- 
plicity, the life and very holy deeds of the good king St. 
Lewis, and seems almost a man of genius by force of the 
originality and nature of his style. At the end of the four- 
teenth century, Froissart, wandering chronicler, roams from 
land to land, collecting the facts worthy to be remembered, 
and narrating them with the imagination of a troubadour, 
the malicious spirit of a trouvere, and the eloquence and 
fidelity of an historian. Froissart is the worthy precursor 
of Commines, who was the first to intermix the inquiry into 
causes with historical narration, and political views with 
the exposition of events. The History of Charles V. by 
Christine of Pisa, the Chronicle of Monstrelet, the history of 
Juvenal of the Ursins, are much inferior to the memoirs 
of Froissart. At the same time remarkable productions ap- 
pear in another sphere of literature. Some of the Mora- 
lities of the Bazoche, which begin to replace the mysteries, and 
particularly the wheedling lawyer, contain excellent comic 
strokes. French poetry is revealed in the works of Villon 
(1431-1500), and of Charles of Orleans, long a prisoner, 
and in whose complaints there is a touching grace. 

347. Spanish Literature. — The Spanish language, issu- 
ing from the Latin much more directly than the French, 
and happily modified by the influence of Arabic civilization, 
attains also much sooner to its full perfection ; and already, 
from the thirteenth century, we find in it that broad and noble 
harmony, that grand and pompous character, which harmo- 
nizes so well with the genius of the people. Its oldest monu- 
ment is the Romancero of the Cid, like the Iliad, the produc- 
tion of the genius of several poets, faithful organs of national 
traditions. It is the hymn of Christian Spain, enthusiastic for 



384 FEENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN, ETC, LITERATURE. 

the exploits of her hero against the infidels. Some dramatic 
and pious legends prepare the way in the following century 
for the great works of Spanish literature — the works of Lo- 
pez de Vega and Calderon. Castilian prose proved itself 
worthy of Castilian poetry in the writings of the historian 
Ayala, who may be compared with Commines for the justice 
and depth of his views, and to Froissart for the charms of 
his narrative. 

348. Italian Literature. — Dante. — Petrarch. — Boccacio. 
— But in spite of the rising splendor of Spanish literature, it 
is still Italy that stands at the head of European civilization. 
For several centuries, Italy seemed to have confined herself 
to her classic recollections, and the language of Rome. Sud- 
denly, the national language manifested itself in a work of 
such wonderful power, as to make men doubt whether the 
modern Italian, instead of having been formed from the 
wreck of the Latin, was not the ancient common language of 
the Peninsula, existing from the oldest times at the side of the 
language of the learned, and preserved with little alteration 
through the middle ages. The Divina Comedia of Dante 
Alighieri (1265-1321) is the glory of Italian or rather of 
modern poetry. Dante was the Homer of the middle ages, 
resembling him by the boldness and originality of his genius, 
the lively and complete picture of manners, belief, and the 
whole life of a period of religious conviction. This is the glory 
of Dante, as it had been Homer's glory, to revive the heroic 
age and rude population of primitive Greece. Dante's poem 
is the encyclopedia of the middle ages. Literature, science, 
theology, astronomy, all ages, all people, find a place there. 
An enthusiastic lover of liberty, and exiled from Florence by 
his political enemies, the Guelphs, Dante avenges himself by 
placing them in hell among the tyrants of all ages ; and 5''et 
so great was his sense of justice, that few have dared to ap- 
peal from his decision. 



FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN, ETC., LITERATURE. 385 

In the following century (1304-1374) Petrarch, orator, 
philosopher, moralist, celebrated among his contemporaries 
for his profound learning and his Latin poems, won at the 
same time a more enduring reputation by his sonnets and his 
odes, which paint the most delicate shades of passion with an 
indescribable grace, and breathe the spirit of pure and devo- 
ted patriotism. The Canzoniere, or general collection of his 
sonnets and odes, contributed no less than the Divina Come- 
dia to give a decided form to the language. 

Italian prose was formed in the writings of Dino Compagni 
(1265-1323), who wrote the history of Florence from 1280 
to 1312, in a style of concise and energetic elegance and 
simplicity which has never been surpassed ,• of Villani 
(d. 1348), a grave historian, exact narrator, and intelligent 
judge of men and events ; and of Cavaica, Bartolomeo da San 
Concordio, and above all, of Boccacio (1313-1375), who, 
formed like Dante and Petrarch by the study of the ancients, 
wrote with a richness and splendor, and graceful variety of 
language and style, which have made his Decameron the text- 
book of every student of that noble tongue. 

349. English Literature. — English literature seems to 
form the transition between the North and the South, the 
Roman and the Germanic world. After the Norman inva- 
sion, the Romance language, which had been carried over 
by the conquerors, prevailed by right of conquest throughout 
England. But by degrees the ancient Saxon rose again, al- 
tered but unchanged in its nature by the influence of the 
Norman, and in the end the national language triumphed 
over the language of the conqueror. Its first work is the 
narrative of the adventures and exploits of Robin Hood, the 
poetical personification of the Saxon race, the hero of the 
contest between the conquerors and the conquered. But its 
progress at first was slow, and its minstrels of the thirteenth 
century were greatly inferior to the troubadours and trouveres. 

17 



386 FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN, ETC, LITEKATUnE. 

It was not till the fourteenth century, that a great poet ap- 
peared. Chaucer (1328-1415) was distinguished by the 
artlessness and pungency of his style, and his richness and 
originality of expression. 

350. Sclavonic and Scandinavian Literature. — Germany, 
which Roman civilization had scarcely touched, and which, 
during the first years of the middle ages, and even under 
Charlemagne, exerted so strong an influence upon France, 
had resumed in the tenth century the almost exclusive use of 
the Tudesque, and its literature, if we except the Latin works 
of its learned men, resembles that of the North much more than 
that of the South. We have observed the numerous analo- 
gies which exist between the religions, warlike customs, and 
wandering habits of the Saxons, Danes, Germans, and Scan- 
dinavians. The agitated life and the belief of these people 
appear with equal inspiration in great national poems. The 
monuments of Scandinavian literature are : the famous book 
of the Edda (grandmother), a collection of the old traditions 
of northern mythology ; the Sagas, narratives of the events 
of the olden time, mingled with fables and patriotic hymns to 
the glory of heroes, and the most celebrated sea-kings ; and 
the Runes, magical inscriptions preserved in indelible charac- 
ters on sacred stones. The characteristics of these different 
classes of works are almost all united, though in a calmer 
and nobler tone, in the great poem of the Nibelwigen. There 
we find all the artless histories, all the warlike songs, which 
the inhabitants of that land of war and revery loved to hear 
from the harps of their Minnesingers. It is a curious assem- 
blage of the myths of Odin and the legends of Christianity, 
and of the historic annals of several centuries, beginning 
from the invasion of Attila, all concurring in the development 
of the same drama, by turns pleasing and terrible, mingled with 
simple and touching descriptions, with tales of bloody com- 
bats and frightful revenge. It is an animated picture of the 



FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN, ETC., LITERATURE. 387 

political and private life of Germany during the long period 
of the invasion of the eastern tribes and the Sclavonians. 

Russia herself, that isolated and savage region, was not 
without a literature. A monk of Kiev, Nestor (1056-1116), 
wrote in Sclavonic a chronicle filled with precious documents, 
and which was continued after his death by the monks of his 
order. A translation of the Scriptures appeared at the same 
period, and some warlike songs mark the first essays of na- 
tional poetry. 

351. Greek Literature. — While this young literature was 
rising amid a new people, an old literature still lived with an 
old nation on the eastern extremity of Europe. The Greek lan- 
guage produced numerous works which, if they do not reveal 
a great genius, reveal at least great intellectual activity, sus- 
tained by theological controversies and the study of history. 
We will cite for the ninth century the celebrated Plwtius, 
whose works display immense learning ; for the tenth, the 
Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who wrote the life of 
his grandfather Basil ; Simeon Metaphrasfes, the first of those 
oriental hagiographs, whose misdirected piety has filled with 
fables the lives of saints ; the grammarian Suidas ; and Sto- 
baeus, a philologist, full of science and sagacity. After a 
century of barrenness, Zonaras (12th cent.), writes a univer- 
sal history, some parts of which display real talent. Nice- 
phoras Briennes, historiographer of the family of the Com- 
nenes, and the princess Anna Comnenes (towards 1132), the 
pretending but sometimes elegant author of the Alexiad, nar- 
rate the events of contemporary history. At the same time, 
appears Eustathius's learned commentary upon Homer. But 
as the empire advances towards its fall, literature decreases 
and becomes sterile. Bad taste and affectation are the gene- 
ral characteristics of the historical works which abound in 
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It is hardly worth 
while to mention even the names of the annalists Nicetas and 



388 ARTS AND SCIENCES. 

John Catacuzene. At last, the taking of Constantinople puts 
an end to this series of obscure writers, and Greek literature 
falls with the empire of the East, 



§ III. 

ARTS AND SCIENCES. 

352. Roman and Byzantine Architecture. — The history 
of art in the middle ages is almost exclusively the history of 
architecture, which receives an astonishing development un- 
der the influence of Christian ideas. From the fourth to the 
twelfth century, Roman and Byzantine architecture prevailed 
almost exclusively, distinguished — the first, by an austere 
simplicity ; the second, by a profusion of ornament. The 
Christian idea had already created a symbolical type for all 
the monuments of worship. The interior of a church pre- 
sents the form of a cross ; the apsis, or circle of the choir, 
indicating the place of the Saviour's head ; the chapels that 
surround it, the rays of glory, &c. 

During the disorders which followed the reign of Charle- 
magne, art like literature fell to decay. Europe, a prey to 
that frightful chaos which seemed to presage the end of the 
world, did not awake from its lethargy till it had passed that 
famous year 1000, to which all had been looking forward 
with such dread. " But instantly," says the monk of Cluny, 
" the Christians resumed courage, and one would have said 
that the whole world, throwing off by common agreement the 
rags of antiquity, had put on the white garments of the 
Church." Then were founded or rebuilt the churches of 
Dijon, Rheims, Tours, Cambray, Limoges, Poictiers, and nu- 
merous other cities. Then rose, too, the celebrated abbey of 
Cluny, one of the most curious monuments of tliis epoch. 



ARTS AND SCIENCES. 389 

Then, also, was developed in all its splendor that elegant 
architecture of the Arabs, with its slender minarets curiously 
terminating in a ball or swollen cone, with its slim and deli- 
cate columns, and its walls overloaded with ornaments and 
glittering with marble and stucco, and sometimes even in- 
crusted with gold, and jewels, and precious mosaics. 

353. Ogival or Pointed Architecture. — Master-pieces of 
Religious Art. — In the twelfth century, a revolution took 
place in religious architecture. The curves were gradually 
lengthened, the columns drawn out and extended, as if to 
soar toward heaven. The ogive, or pointed arch, replaces 
the semi-circle of the Roman and Byzantine schools. Whe- 
ther the pointed arch was found in germ in the catacombs, or 
arose from the combination of the arcs of the Roman curve — 
whether it appears in some of the monuments of the Ostro- 
goths, or was subjected to the influence of the Arabic style, 
from which, however, it certainly did not arise — or whether, 
in fine, it was the spontaneous product of the studies of west- 
ern architects, it is none the less certain that it harmonized 
marvellously with the wants of a spiritual worship. All the 
magnificence of Christianity, all the sublimity of its dog- 
mas, are manifested in those cathedrals where genius built 
ideas with stones, where all the glories of heaven seemed to 
be reflected through symbolic glass — gigantic creations, the 
mere conception of which terrifies the imagination, while the 
execution reveals a power of faith, of patience, of self-devo- 
tion, and of boldness, which do not belong to modern times. 
The building of a cathedral reveals perhaps full as much as 
a crusade, and in all its artless beauty, the religious enthu- 
siasm of the middle ages. " You see nobles, accustomed to 
a voluptuous life, tie themselves to a car and draw stones, 
lime, wood, and all the materials necessary for the sacred 
edifice. Sometimes, the weight is so great that a thousand 
persons, men and women, are dragging at the same car, 



390 ARTS AND SCIENCES. 

and yet not a murmur is heard, and profound silence 
reigns throughout the multitude. When they stop on the 
road they speak only of their sins, which they confess with 
tears and prayers j and then the priest exhorts them to stifle 
their animosities, to forgive their debtors, and if there is any 
one so hardened as to refuse, he is instantly loosened from the 
car and driven from the holy company." (Letter of Henrion, 
Abbe of St. Pierre.) Thus arose those admirable monu- 
ments which are spread over France, England, and Ger- 
many ; Notre Dame and the Holy Chapel at Paris ; the ca- 
thedrals of Rheims, Bourges, Rouen, Chartres, Strasburg, 
Cologne, Westminster. The workmen were the believers of 
every class ; the artists who decorated them were poor monks, 
who passed their lives in obscurity cutting a bas-relief or a 
column ; the architects, men of wonderful genius, but still 
more wonderful humility and self-denial, for scarcely any of 
them have left their names to posterity. The Gothic cathe- 
drals resemble those great national poems, which seem to 
have sprung from the people themselves and embody their 
traditions. 

Ogival architecture begins to be corrupted towards the 
fifteenth century. Its symbolical character becomes degra- 
ded, and wanders from the religious idea. The artists, 
heirs of the trouveres rather than of the pious builders of the 
thirteenth centuiy, give full career to their satiric impulse, 
without respecting the holiness of the edifice ; and often, un- 
der their malignant chisel, a saint is replaced by a monk muf- 
fled up in the skin of an animal. This decay announces a 
new revolution. Science soon gives place to a cold monotony, 
and architecture, which during the middle ages had been the 
writing of the human race, seems to lose its power of expres- 
sion, just when the art of printing comes to offer new resources 
to thought. 

354. Painting and Sculpture. — Painting, if we except 



ARTS AND SCIENCES. 391 

that, the wonderful colors of which have been preserved on 
glass, served for several centuries for little else than to fur- 
nish churches with ornaments wholly unworthy of their mag- 
nificence. It was not till the thirteenth century that the Ita- 
lian Cimahue began to render drawing more correct, and turn 
to account the gradations of light and shade. The figures of 
Giotto (1266-1336), much superior to those of his master, are 
characterized by truth and grace. He was the true pre- 
cursor of the great Italian school, and the frescoes of the 
Campo Santo of Pisa, a curious museum of this epoch, an- 
nounce the revival of art. Spinello of Arezzo painted faces 
with so much energy, that he was said to have died of fright 
before a picture of the devil of his own painting. Masaccio 
studied foreshortening with success, and died very young, 
leaving works which Michael Angelo and Raphael thought 
worthy of imitation and study. The Speculum Majus, a vast 
collection in which Vincent of Beauvais (13th cent.) sums up 
all the sciences which were taught in his times, reveals also 
their weakness and imperfection. But still the invention of 
oil painting (1427) prepared the way for the master-pieces of 
the sixteenth century. 

The progress of sculpture was more rapid than that of 
painting. Amid a crowd of incorrect productions, some 
figures of an admirable expression already adorn the old 
cathedrals. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, An- 
drew of Pisa distinguished himself by magnificent works, the 
most celebrated of which is the door of the baptistery of St. 
John of Florence. Balducci and Verrocchio follow his steps, 
and soon Donatello (1383-1466) attained a degree of perfec- 
tion which was hardly surpassed by his glorious successors. 

355. Sacred Music. — Music, which in the first half of 
the middle ages was exclusively consecrated to divine ser- 
vice, preserved the noble gravity of the Gregorian chant. 
But soon the crusaders heard with rapture the delicious 



392 ARTS AND SCIENCES. 

sounds which the Arabs drew from the lute, the organ, the 
flute, and the mandolin. The troubadours learnt to accom- 
pany themselves on the harp. Towards the beginning of the 
twelfth century, Guido of Arezzo gives the tones of the gamut 
the names which they still bear, and publishes a system of 
the principles of music, which in spite of the remonstrances of 
the popes, gradually loses its austere simplicity even in reli- 
gious chants. Counter-point began from that time to take the 
place of the majestic gravity of the plain chant. 

356. Sciences. — Principal Inventions and Discoveries. — 
The history of the sciences is less fertile than that of the arts. 
Florence founded the first academy of painting in the middle 
of the fourteenth century. Mechanics, so essential to ar- 
chitecture, seem to have made very rapid progress. In the 
tenth century, Gerbertus knew how to regulate clocks of his 
own construction by the stars, and make an organ play by 
steam. In the thirteenth century, Albertus Magnus was said 
to have constructed a human figure which went and opened 
the door whenever any body knocked. Algebra also owes 
much to Gerbertus, who is said to have been the inventor of 
decimal numeration, and particularly to Leonardo Fibonacci, 
whose works long enjoyed a great reputation. Some medical 
studies flourished among the Arabs, and in convents ; but 
being deprived of the aid of obsei'vation and experiment, they 
were mixed up with the reveries of alchymy and astro- 
logy. Indeed, it is not till the end of the thirteenth cen- 
tury that we can discern a real progress in science. 

Then appeared Eager Bacon (1214-1292), a man su- 
perior to his age, who, in the sterile search of the great 
secret, discovered the art of distillation, and pointed out the 
true scientific method. In the fourteenth century, the re- 
storation of anatomical studies by Mondini dei Luzzi (1315) 
pointed out a new career to medicine. Chemistry, in the 
hands of the celebrated Raymond Lulle (towards 1315), 



COMMEECE AND INDUSTRY. 393 

was still confounded with alchemy. The invention of spec- 
tacles by the Florentine Salviato (1286), was one of the 
useful discoveries of the same period. The composition of 
gunpowder, long employed by the Chinese, was known to 
Roger Bacon, and the application of it prepared a great 
change in the art of war. Wood engraving, applied to 
cards, led to a discovery of infinitely higher importance. 
In the first half of the fifteenth century (1436-1440) John 
Gutteriburg, of Mayence, invented at Strasburg the art of 
printing with movable type, and the communication and 
perpetuation of knowledge were secured for ever. Finally, 
the compass, that wonderful application of the magnetized 
needle to navigation, by supplying the means of making 
long voyages, opened the way for the expeditions of the 
Portuguese and the discovery of America. 



§ IV. 

COMMERCE 'and INDUSTRY. 

357. Foreign and Domestic Commerce. — Traffic of the 
Jews and Lombards. — One of the principal results of these 
great voyages by sea was the new impulse which they gave 
to commerce. We have indicated the principal develop- 
ments of maritime and international commerce in the middle 
ages, in speaking of the Italian republics and Hanseatic cities. 
We will now add a few words concerning domestic com- 
merce and the organization of industry. The political unity 
established by Charlemagne in a great part of Europe, and 
the guarantees of order and tranquillity which the new em- 
pire seemed to give, promised a prompt and easy progress 
to all the elements of civilization. At the first opening of the 
great fair at Aix-la-Chapelle^ Anglo-Saxons brought tin and 



394 COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY. 

lead from England ; Sclavonians brought metals from the 
North ; Lombards, silks from Constantinople ; Spaniards, 
merchandise from Africa ; and Frenchmen, woollens from 
Lyons, Tours, and Aries. Charlemagne even attempted to 
establish uniform weights and measures. But no sooner was 
he dead than feudality came to annihilate the results of all 
his efforts. The nobles rendered commerce impossible, by 
plundering and taxing the merchants who crossed their do- 
mains, and all the business of Europe fell into the hands of 
the Jews, who were willing for the love of gain to brave every 
species of danger and vexation. Clothes, linen, hardware, 
jewels, and ornaments from the East, were transported on 
mules from city to city, from town to town. The carriers, 
in possession of an undisputed monopoly, realized enormous 
profits, when they were not plundered, and triumphed by 
their tenacity over every obstacle. Objects of universal 
reprobation, and often exposed to terrible persecutions, the 
Jews still gained a great importance by their commercial 
superiority, and kings, who drew from them abundant contri- 
butions, protected them against the hatred of the people. 
These indefatigable speculators succeeded in introducing a 
remarkable regularity into their operations. It is to those 
that we owe the invention of bills of exchange. A redoubta- 
ble rivalry rose up against the Jews when the crusades, deve- 
loping with astonishing rapidity the power of the maritime 
republics, had enriched Italy with a great quantity of oriental 
merchandise. Lombard pedlars spread all over Europe, and 
more skilful even than the Jews, succeeded in supplanting 
them. It was then that the latter, abandoning their old trade, 
devoted themselves exclusively to traffic in money. They 
absorbed the greater part of the specie in circulation, and 
exercised over Europe a real fiscal tyranny, which withstood 
the severest restraints, and only yielded to the progress of 
industry. 



COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY. 395 

358. Progress and Organization of Industry. — Industry, 
like every thing else in the social system, was subjected to 
that universal necessity which produced feudality, the neces- 
sity of a particular, in the absence of a general organization. 
While the commons were organizing themselves against the 
tyranny of the nobles, artisans sought security and protec- 
tion by uniting in regular associations called brotherhoods or 
corporations, and which were established as much for the 
good of the buyer, exposed to the fraud of the manufacturer, 
as for that of the artisan himself. In France, the provost 
of Paris, Stephen Boileau, was intrusted by St. Lewis with 
the carrying out of this great conception. From this time, 
the Book of Trades marks out more than a hundred and 
fifty different professions, a proof of the importance which 
industry had already acquired in large cities. The corpo- 
rations, which every where increased with the communities, 
soon acquired a remai'kable development and regularity. 
No one could be admitted till he had served his appren- 
ticeship, and proved his skill by a master-piece {chef d'oeu- 
vre). The institutions of censorship, called wardenships, 
enforced the regulations of the society and the hierarchy of 
the members. Every trade was under the protection of a 
saint, and had a banner under which the whole brotherhood 
marched to the aid of an injured member, or sometimes even 
joined the national army for the defence of the country. In 
several countries of Europe, and especially in Flanders, cor- 
porations became redoubtable political powers. Like many 
other institutions, they were the result of peculiar circum- 
stances, and falling when those circumstances changed, 
showed that they derived their usefulness and strength from 
transient causes rather than from any general and permanent 
principles. 



STNCHEONITIC TABLE 



HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



395 



401 
402 
406 



410 
412 



413 

418 
427 
429 
431 

432 

440 
448 

450 

451 

453 
476 

481 



HISTORY OF RELIGION. 



Saint Anastasius. 
St. Innocent. 



St. Boniface. 



Council of Ephesus, ■which 
condemns the Pelagians 
and Nestorians. 

St. Sixtus m. 

St. Leo the Great. 



Council of Calcedonia 
against the Eutychians. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND. EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA. 



Several Frank tribes are al 
ready established on the 
left bank of the Rhine. 



Invasion of Gaul by the 
Suevi, Alani, Vandals, 
and Burgundians. 

Foundation of the kingdom 

of the Visigoths by As- 

tolphus. 
Foundation of the kingdom 

of the Burgundians. 
Supposed beginning of the 

kingdom of the Franks. 
Chlodian chief of the 

Franks. 



Incursion of Chlodian into 
Gaul. 

Merovaeus— Great Britain 
invaded by the Saxons. 

Foundation of the kingdom 
of Kent. 

AttUa conquered at the bat- 
tle of Chalons. 



Acceesion of Clovis. 



The Goths are already es- 
tablished in the Empire. 
Arcadius emperor of the 
East, Honorms of the 
West. Alaric invades 
Greece. 

Alaric in Italy, 

Invasion of Italy by Rha- 
dagasius. 

Taking of Rome by Alaric 



Genseric leads the Vandala •'' 
into Africa. 



Kingdom of Carthage. #/ 



Invasion of Italy by Attila. 
Fall of the Western em- 

pite»_ Odoacer king of 

Italy. 



398 



SYNCHRONITIC TABLE OF THE 



A.D. 


HISTORY OP RELIGION. 


FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 


EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA, 


483 


St. Felix III. 






486 




Victory of Soissons. 




492 


St. Gelasius. 






493 






Foundation of the kingdom 
of the Ostrogoths in Ita- 
ly by Theodoric. 


496 


Conversion of Clovis and 
tiie Franks. 


Battle of Tolbiac. 




498 


Symmachus. 






507 




Battle of Vougle. 


The Visigoths driven back 
into Spain. 


511 




Death of Clovis. Division 
of the kingdom. 




514 


Hormisdas. 






523 


John I. 


War against the Burgun- 
dians. 




527 




Accession of Justinian. 


530 


Boniface n. 




Code of Justinian. Wa* 
against the Fer.=ians. 


534 




End of the kingdom of Bur- 


End of the kingdom of the 






gundy. 


Vandals. War against 
the Goths. 


540 






New war against the Per- 
sians. 


547 




Invasion of England by the 
Angles. 




553 


Council of Constantinople. 






654 






Narses destroys the king- 
dom of the Ostrogoths. 


558 




Clothaire I. sole king of the 

Franks. 
Second division between 




561 










the sons of Clovis. 




568 




Rivalry of Fredegund and 


Foundation of the kingdom 






Burnechild. 


of the Lombards by Al- 
boin. 


569 






Birth of Mahomet. 


584 




Anglo-Saxon heptarchy. 




587 




Treaty of Andelot. Hered- 
itary benefices in Aus- 
trasia. 




690 


Saint Gregory the Great. 
Christianity introduced 
into England. 






604 


Sabmian. 




Success of Chosroes II. 
against the Empire of 

the East. 


613 




Clothaire 11. sole king of 


Reverses of Heraclius, em- 






the Franks. 


peror of the East. 


615 


St. Deusdedit. 


Benefices made hereditary 


Taking of Jerusalem by 






in Neustria, and then in 


the Persians. 






Burgundy. 




622 






Flight of Mahomet from 
Mecca, or the Hegira. 
His doctrine spreads in 
Arabia. 


628 




Dagobert I., king of the 

Franks. 




632 






Death of Mahomet. Abu- 
Beker, first caliph, pub- 
lishes the Koran. 


634 






Omar second caliph. 


638 




Third division of the mo- 


Conquest of Syria by the 






narchy. 


* Mussulmen. Conquest 
of Egypt by Amru. 



HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



399 



A.D. 


HISTORY OP RELIGION. 


FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 


EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA. 


640 


Severinus. John IV. 


Power of the mayors of 
the palace under the fai- 
neants kings. 


Othman caliph. 


649 


Martin I. 




Conquest of Persia by the 

Mussulmen. 


657 






Dynasty of the Ommiads. 
Mohaviah. 


660 






Siege of Constantinople by 
the Arabs. 


676 


Donua I, 




Peace with the Empire of 
the East. 


678 


Agathon. 


Power of the mayors Pe- 
pin of Heristal, Martin, 
fibroin. 




681 


Council of Constantinople 
against tlie Monotlielitea. 






687 


Sergius. 


Battle of Testry. Pepin 


Conquests of the Arabs in • 






sole mayor of all France. 


Africa. 


705 


Jolin VII. 




Conquests of the Arabs in 
central Asia. 


712 






Battle of Xeres. Conquest 
of Spain by the Moors. 


714 




Charles Martel mayor of 
the palace. 




715 


Gregory II. St. Boniface 
evangelizes Germany. 






721 




Invasion of France by the 
Saracens. 




726 


Edict of Leo the Iconoclast 
against images. 






732 




Victory of Poictiers over 


Alphonso I. king of the 






the Saracens. 


Asturias. 


750 






The dynasty of the Abbas- 
sides replaces that of the 
Ommiads. 


752 


Stephen II. 


Pepin the Short chosen 
king of France and con- 
secrated at Soissons by 
St. Boniface. 




756 






The pope put in posses- 
sion of the exarchate of 














Ravenna by Pepin the 








Short. Caliphate of Cor- 








dova Ibunded by Abde- 








rame, a descendant of the 








Ommiad caliphs. 


759 




Narbonne taken from the 
Arabs : Pepin master of 
all Gaul. 




771 




Charlemagne unites the 
kingdom of the Franks 
under one crown. 




774 






End of the kingdom of the 
Lombards. The Franks 
masters of Italy and the 
city of Rome : patriciat 
of Charlemagne. 


778 






Conquest of Spain between 
the Pyrenees and the 
Ebro by the Franks. 


786 




New wars in Saxony. 


Accession of Haroun-al- 
Raschid. 


787 


Second council of Nice, 




Exploits of Alphonso the 




which condemns the Ico- 




Chaste, king of Asturia. 




noclasts. 







400 



SYNCHRONITIC TABLE OF THE 



793 
795 

796 



800 



814 



843 



850 
855 



871 

874 



877 



879 



Leom. 



894 



HISTORY OF RELIGION. 



Photius re-established at 
Constantinople. 



Schism between the Latins 
and Greeks. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 



First invasion of England 
by the Danes. 



Charlemagne crowned em- 
peror of the West. 



Death of Charlemagne 
Lewis the Debonnaire 
emperor. 

End of the English heptar- 
chy: Egbert the Great 
king of all England. 

Peace of Verdun. Divis 
ion of the empire of the 
Franks. Origin of the 
kingdom of France un- 
der Charles the Bold. 



Alfred king of England. 



Capitulary of Kiersy : he 
reditary feudal system 
arises in France under 
Charles the Bald. 

Origin of the kingdom of 
Cisjuran Burgundy im- 
der Boson. 



Deposition of Charles the 
Fat at the diet of Tribur. 
Eudes. 



Final dismemberment of 
the empire of the Franks 



EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA. 



Beginning of the maritime 
incursions of the Nor- 
mans. 

Destruction of the kingdom 
of the Avars by Charle- 
magne : Pannonia passes 
under the domimon of 
the Franks. 



Peace of Salza : the Saxons 
submit to Charlemagne 
and embrace Christian- 
ity. 



Origin of the kingdom of 
Germany under Lewis 
the Germanic. 



Foundation of the Russian 
monarchy by Ruric the 
Normand. 

Origin of the kingdom of 
Lorraine imder Lothaire 
II. 

Origin of the kingdom of 
Navarre under Don Gar- 
cia. 

Foundation of the republic 
of Iceland by the Nor- 



Amolph of Carinthia king 
of Germany. The Ger- 
mans make their crown 
elective. Contest of Gui- 
do and Berengariusin It- 
aly. Arrival of the Hun- 
garians on the Danube 
under Almus and Arpad. 

Italy becomes a separate 
kingdom. Origin of the 
kingdom of Transjuran 
Burgundy under Ro- 
dolph. 

Borgiwoy first Christian 
duke of Bohemia. 



HISTORY OF THE BIIDDLE AGES. 



401 



A.D. HISTORY OP RELIGION. FRANCE AND ENGLAND. EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA, 



900 



911 
912 

919 
924 

925 

930 

932 

961 
962 

965 
966 



994 
996 



Harald-Blaatand, king of 
Denmark, receives bap- 
tism. 

Micezyslaw I., duke of Po- 
land, receives Cliristian- 
ity. 



Vladimir the Great, grand- 
duke of Russia, embra- 
ces Christianity. 

Conversion of Geysa or 
Va'ic, prince of the Hun- 
garians. 



Charles the Simple, king of 
France, seizes the king- 
dom of liOrraine. 

Treaty of St. Clair on the 
Epte : RoUo, the chief 
of the Normands, made 
duke of Normandy un- 
der the name of Robert I. 



Kingdom of Aries and of 
Provence. Cis-.Turan and 
Trans-Juran Burgundy 
reunited by Rudolph II. 



The Saracens entirely driv- 
en from France. 

Hugh Capet king of France 
— accession of the Capet- 
ian dynasty. 



Zwentibold king of Lor- 
raine. 

Dismemberment of the Mo- 
ravian kingdom by the 
Hungarians, who make 
also the conquest of Pan- 
nonia. Origin of mod- 
ern Hungary. 

Foundation of the caliph- / 
ate of the Fatimites in ' 
Africa and Egypt. 

Conrad of Franconia. 



Accession of the Saxon dy- 
nasty of kings of Ger- 
many. 

Interruption of the impe- 
rial dignity in the West 
on the death of Beren- 
garius I., king of Italy 
and emperor. 

Reunion of the kingdom of 
Lorraine by Henry I., 
king of Germany. 



Defeat of the Hungarians 
near Merseburg by Hen- 
ry I., king of Germany. 

Reunion of the kingdom of 
Italy by Otho the Great, 
king of Germany. 

Renewal of the imperial 
dignity by Otho : origin 
of the empire of Ger- 
many. 



Conquest of Egypt by the 
Fatimites. 



The Christians persecuted 
in the East by the Fa- 
timites. 



402 



SYNCHEONITIC TABLE OF THE 



999 
1000 



1001 

1014 
1015 

1018 
1024 



1030 

1032 
1035 



1042 
1043 

1048 

1059 

1061 
1066 
1069 
1071 



HISTORY OP RELIGION. 



Sylvester II. (Gerbertus). 



Olaus Skoetkonung, first 
king of Sweden, embra- 
ces Christianity. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 



Conquest of England by 
Canute the Great. 



EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA. 



Beginning of the maritime 
power of Venice. 

Stephen I., first king of 
Germany, crowned with 
the Angelic crown. 



Canute the Great, king of 
Denmark. 

Death of Vladimir the 
Great : beginning of di- 
visions in Russia. 



Accession of the dynasty 
of the emperors of the 
Salic family. Expedi- 
tion of the French Nor- 
mans into Italy. 

Dismemberment of the ca- 
liphate of Cordova : de- 
cay of the Mahometans 
in Spain. 

Reunion of the kingdom of 
Burgundy by the empe- 
ror Conrad II. 

Division of the states of 
Sancho the Great into 
the kingdoms of Na- 
varre, Castile, and Ara- 
gon. 

Foundation of the empire 
of the Seljuk Turks by 
Togrulbeg. 

The Danes expelled from 
England. 

Amiexation of Pannonia as 
far as the Leytha by the 
emperor, Henry III. — 
Power of Germany. 

Gerard of Alsatia first here- 
ditary duke of the Mosel- 
lian Lorraine and foun- 
der of the house of Lor- 
raine. 

Robert Guiscard, duke of 
Appulia and Calabria, 
becomes the vassal of the 
Holy See. 

Abu-Beker, founder of the**^ 
empire of the Almora- 
vids in northern Africa. 
Oct. 14, battle of Hastings. Tournaments first known. 
Conquest of England by 



WilUam of Normandy. 



Yousouf, sovereign of the 
Almoravids, builds Mo- 
rocco. 

The Greeks stripped of a 
part of Asia.Minor by the 
Seljuk Turks. Guelph, 
founder of the house of 
Brunswick, made duke 
of Bavaria. 



HISTORY OP THE MIDDLE AGES. 



403 



A.D 



HISTORY OP RELIGION. 



PRANCE AND ENGfLAND. EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA. 



1073 
1074 



1075 
1076 



1081 
1086 

1087 

1092 

1094 

1095 
1096 
1099 

1100 
1106 

1108 
1115 

1119 



1122 



Gregory VII. (Hilbebrand) 
chosen pope and confir- 
med by the emperor. 

He Ibrbids investiture by 
laymen and the marriage 
of the clergy. Origin of 
the new power of the 
popes. 



Foundation of the order of 
Carthusians. Multipli 
cation of the religious 
orders. 



Victor III. 



Council of Clermont. 



First war between France 
and England : beginning 
of the rivalry between 
the two nations. 



The pope preaches the iirst 
crusade in France. 



Calixtus II. 



Concordate of Worms. 



Lewis VI. the Fat. In- 
crease of communities. 



War between France and 
England. Battle of Bren- 
neville. 



Decline of Germany. Rise 
of the hereditary feudal 
system in the empire. 
Origin of the house of 
Baden from the dukes of 
Zaringuia. 

Conquest of Palestine by 
the Seljuk Turks. 

The emperor Henry IV. 
deposed by Gregory VII. 
War between the church 
and empire. 



Dynasty of the Comneni 
at Constantinople. 

Alphonso VI., king of Cas- 
tile, takes Toledo and 
Madrid from the Moors. 
The Almoravids of Afri- 
ca invade Spain. 



Dismemberment of the em- 
pire of the Seljuk Turks 
into four sultanates. 

Henry of Burgundy, of the 
house of France, made 
count of Portugal. 



Crusade of Godfrey of Bou- 
illon. 

Foundation of the kingdom 
of Jerusalem by Godfrey 
of Bouillon. 

Foundation of the order of 
St. John of Jerusalem. 

The cities of Italy begin to 
form republics. Origin 
of communities. 



Revival of the Roman law 
in Italy. Increase of the 
ecclesiastical state by the - 
inheritance of the count- 
ess Matilda. 

Foundation of the order of 
Templars. 

Origin of the empire of the 
Almohads, conquerors of 
Africa and Mahometan ^ 
Spain. 

End of the war of investi- 
tures. 



404 



SYNCHRONITIC TABLE OF THE 



A.D. HISTORY OP RELIGION. FRANCE AND ENGLAND. EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA, 



1127 
1130 

1131 
1136 
1138 

1139 

1142 
1147 

1152 

1154 
1156 
1157 



1158 
1164 
1167 
1171 



Innocent 11. Efforts of the 
pope to establish the 
Truce of God. 



General council of the Va- 
tican. 



St. Bernard at the council 
of Rheims. 



Sack of Vitry in Cham- 
pagne. 

St. Bernard preaches the 
second crusade. 



Eleanor of Poictou, heiress 
of Aquitania, Gascony, 
Poictou, &c., repudiated 
by Lewis VII., marries 
Henry Plantagenet,count 
of Anjou. 

Henry II. king of England, 
Accession of the Planta- 
genets. 



The dukes of Zaringuia 
created regents of the 
kingdom of Burgundy. 

Foundation of the kingdom 
of the " Two Sicilies." 



Henry the Proud, duke of 
Bavaria, annexes the 
duchy of Saxony. 

Accession of the house of 
Hohenstaufen to the 
throne of the empire. 
Guelphs and Ghibel- 
lines. Beginning of the 
divisions of Poland at 
the death of Boleslas III. 

July 24, battle of Ourica : 
A Iphonso I. , son ol Count 
Henry, proclaimed king 
of Portugal. 

Alphonso I., king of Portu- 
gal, becomes vassal and 
tributary of the pope. 

Crusade of the emperor 
Conrad III. & Lewis VII., 
king of France, against 
the Atabek Zenghi. 



Austria, from a margraviat 
made a duchy by the em- 
peror Frederic II. 

Conquest of Finland by the 
Swedes. Albert the Bear, 
margrave of the North, 
takes possession of the 
city of Brandenburg : be- 
ginning of this margravi- 
at. Andrew Juriewitsch, 
great duke of Russia, es- 
tablishes his residence at 
Vladimir on the Kiias- 
ma. Political schism of 
Russia. 

Discovery of Livonia by 
some merchants of Bre- 
men. 

Sardinia formed into a 
kingdom by the emperor 
Freaeric I. 

League of the cities of 
Lombardy against the 

- emperor Frederic I. 

Saladin conquers Egypt 
and founds the rule of 
the Ayoubite sultans. ^ 



HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



405 



A..D. HISTORY OP RELIGION. PRANCE AND ENGLAND. ECTROPE, ASIA & APKICA, 



1172 
1177 



1183 



1187 
1189 



1190 
1191 
1192 

1198 
1200 



1201 
1202 
120i 



Gregory vni. Clement III. 



Celestin III. 



Innocent IH. Inquisition. 



Conquest of Ireland by 
Henry II., king of Eng- 
land. 



1206 
1212 
1213 



The English stripped of 
Normandy, &c., by Phi 
lip Augustus of France 
Commission established 
in Languedoc to judge 
heretics : origin of the 
inquisition. 



John-Lackland acknowl- 
edges himself vassal of 
the pope. 



Peace of Venice : Frederic 
I. renounces the prefec- 
ture of Rome : the Vene- 
tians claim the control of 
the Adriatic. 

Peace of Constance, which 
secures the independence 
of the Lombard cities 
under the suzerainty of 
the emperor. 

Destruction of the kingdom 
of Jerusalem by Sala- 
din. 

Crusade of Frederic I. of 
Germany, Philip Au- 
gustus of France, and 
Richard Coeur-de-Lion 
of England. Accession 
of the house of Hohen- 
staufen to the throne of 
the Two Sicilies. 

Foundation of the Teu- 
tonic order. 

Seige and taking of Ptole- 
mais by the crusaders. 

Guido of Lusignan made 
king of Cyprus by Rich- 
ard of England. 

Bolremia formed into a 
kingdom. 

First mention of the com- 
pass. The University of 
Paris formed into four 
faculties : origin of uni- 
versities. Foundation of 
the city of Riga by Bisli- 
op Albert of Livonia. 

Foundation of the order of 
the knights " Bear the 
Sword " in Livonia. 

Fourth great crusade un- 
der Boniface, marquis of 
Montferrat. 

Constantinople taken by 
the crusaders : dismem- 
berment of the Greek 
empire : foundation of 
the Latin empire of 
Constantinople, and the 
Greek empires of Nice 
and Trebizond. Don Pe- 
dro II., king of Aragon, 
becomes vassal of the 
pope. 

Genghis-Khan : foundation 
of the great empire of 
the Moguls. 

Battle of Ubeda: defeat 
and fall of the Almohada 
of Africa. 



406 



SYNCHRONITIC TABLE OF THE 



A.D. HISTORY OP RELIGION. PRANCE AND ENGLAND. EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA. 



1213 
1215 

1217 

1218 

1222 
1^26 
1227 

1228 
1230 



1235 

1236 
1237 



1248 
1250 
1254 



1256 



Council of 
against the 



the Latuan 
Albigenses. 



Gregory IX. 



Celestin IV. 



Alexander V. 



Battle of Bouvines won by 

Philip Augustus. 
Magna Charta. 



The palatinate of the Rhine 
enters into the house of 
Wittelsbach. 

Crusade of Andrew n., 
king of Hungary. 

Extinction of the dukes of 
Zarringuia : Switzerland 
becomes an immediate 
province of the empire. 

Charter or decree of An- 
drew II., basis of the 
Hungarian constitution. 

Renewal of the league of 
Lombardy to oppose the 
emperor Frederic II. 

Battle of Bornhoeved in 
Holstein : Waldemar II., 
king of Denmark, loses 
his conquests on the sou- 
thern coast of the Baltic. 

Crusade of the emperor 
Frederic II. 

The Teutonic order estab- 
lishes itself in Prussia. 
Conquest of the Balearic 
islands by the king of Ar- 
agon. Conquest of Cour- 
land by the knights of 
I^ivonia. 

Decretal of Gregory IX. 
Formation of the duchy 
of Brunswick in favor of 
the house of the Guelphs. 

Conquest of the kingdoms 
oi' Cordova, Murcia, and 
Seville by the Castilians. 

Conquest of Russia by 
Baton- Khan : origin of 
the Mogul or Tartar 
horde of Kaptschak. — 
Union of the order of 
knights " Bearers of the 
Sword" to the grand- 
masteiy of the Teutonic 
order. 

Supposed beginning of the 
Hansealic league. Inva- 
sion of Poland, Silesia, 
and Hungary by the Mo- 
guls. 

Crusade of St. Lewis, king 
of France. 

Beginning of the great in- 
terregnum in Germany. 

Accession of the emperors 
of different houses in 
Germany. End of the 
dominion of the Agu- 
bites in Egypt and Sy- - 
ria : beginning of the 
empire of the Mame- 
lukes. 

Enfranchisement of the 
serfs at Bologna ia Italy. 



HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



407 



A.D. 


HISTORY OP RELIGION. 


PRANCE AND ENGLAND. 


1261 


Urban IV. 




1265 


Clement IV. 




1266 




Admission of ihe commons 
to the parliament of Eng- 
land. 


1268 




1271 


Gregory X. 




1273 






1282 




Conquest of Wales by the 
king of England. 


1283 






1289 






1290 






1291 






1294 


Celestin V. Boniface VIII. 




1298 






1300 


Foundation of the jubilee. 




1301 







SUROPB, ASIA & AFRICA. 



Michel Paleologus, empe- 
ror of Nice, takes Con- 
siantinople : end of the 
empire of the Latins. 

First general reserve by 
Clement IV. of the liv- 
ings falling vacant at the 
court of Rome by the 
death of the beneficiary. 
Accession of the house 
of Anjou to the throne of 
the Two Sicilies. 



Corradino decapitated at 
Naples : extinction of the 
house of Hohenstaufen. 
— Suabia and Franconia 
become immediate pro- 
vinces of the empire. 

The county of Thoulouse 
passes to the king of 
France, and the Venais- 
sin to the pope. 

Accession of the emperor 
Rodolph of Hapsburg to 
the throne of the empire : 
first election by the seven 
electors. 

The Sicilian Vespers : the 
kingdom of Sicily passes 
to the king of Aragon. — 
The emperor Rodolph 
gives to his sons the in- 
vestiture of the duchies 
of Austria : foundation 
of the house of Haps- 
burg of Austria. 

The Teutonic order com- 
pletes the conquest of 
Prussia. 

Extinction of the male line 
of the old race of Scotch 
kings. Contest of Baliol 
and Bruce. 

Decline of the republic of 
Pisa. Aggrandizement 
of that of Genoa. 

Taking of Ptolemais and 
Tyre by the Mamelukes. 
End of the crusades. 

Decline of the Mogul em- 
pire at the death of Ku- 
blai-Khan. 

Introduction of an heredi- 
tary aristocracy at Ve- 
nice. 

Foundation of the modem 
Turkish empire by Otto- 
man I. 

End of the male line of the 
old kings of Hungary 
Vifith Andrew III. : ac- 
cession of the Angevins 
of Naples. 



408 



SYNCHRONITIC TABLE OF THE 



1309 



HISTORY OP REJ.IGION. 



Benedict XI. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 



Admission of the " Third 
Estate" to the "States 
General" of France. 



1310 
1312 



1315 



Council of Vienne. 



The city of Lyons passes 
under the sovereignty of 
the king of France. — 
First dismemberment of 
the kingdom of Burgun- 
dy or Aries. 

Enfranchisement of the 
serfs of the crown by 
Lewis X. king of France 



EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA. 



1326 
1328 
1329 
1335 



Philip VI. king of France. 
Accession of the house 
of Valois. 



Edward III. of England 
lays claim to the crown 
of France. 



Accession of the house of 
Luxemburg to the throne 
of the Empire. Origin 
of the Helvetic confed- 
eration. 

The popes remove to Avig- 
non : fall of their author- 
ity. End of the ancient 
Sclavonian kings of Bo- 
hemia. Accession of the 
house of Luxemburg to 
the throne of Bohemia. 
The cities of the empire 
admitted to the diet : ori- 
gin of the college of the 
cities. Marienburg, in 
Prussia, becomes the 
chief residence of the 
Teutonic order. 

Conquest of the island of 
Rhodes by the knights of 
St. John. 
'Suppression of the order 
of Templars. Cannon 
and gunpowder used by 
the Moors in Spam. 



League of Brunnen : basis 
of the federative system 
of the Swiss. Conquests 
of Matthew Visconti, lord 
of Milan, in upper Ita- 
ly. Battle of Morgarten. 

Gedimir, grand-duke of Li- 
thuania, takes possession 
of Kiovia. The royal 
dignity becomes perma- 
nent in Poland after Va- 
dislaw Lokietek. 

Extinction of the electors 
of Brandenburg of the 
Ascanian family : this 
electorate given to Ba- 
varia. 

Sardinia passes under the 
dominion of the kings of 
Aragon. 

The grand-dukes of Rus- 
sia fix their residence at 
Moscow. 

Treaty of Pavia. Division 
of the house of Witiels- 
bach into the Bavarian 
and Palatine branches. 

Cession to the kings of Bo- 
hemia of the rights of 
suzerainty of Poland 
over Silesia. 



HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



409 



1338 



1340 



1343 



1345 



1346 
1348 



1349 

1355 

1356 
1360 



HISTORY OP RELIGION. 



FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 



1362 
1363 



1368 



1369 
1370 



1371 
1373 



1378 
1380 



John Wickliffe. Urban 1, 



Gregory XI. 



Great schism of the West. 



EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA. 



First mention of gunpow- 
der in France. 
Battle of Crecy. 



Humbert II., last dauphin 

of the Viennese, trans- 
mits Dauphiny to France 



General union of the elec- 
tors of the empire. Law 
of Frankfort for main- 
taining the independence 
of the empire against the 
pope. 

BattleofTariffa: defeat of / 
the Moors of Spain and / 
Africa by Alphonso XI. t' 
of Castile. The Poles 
take possession of Red 
Russia and of the pro- 
vinces of Podolia and 
Volhynia. 

The Venetians obtain en- 
tire liberty of commerce 
in the ports of Egypt and 
Syria. 



The city of Avignon sold 
to the pope by Jane I. of 
Naples. 

The plague spread through 
Europe : persecution of 
the Jews. Formation of 
the duchy of Mecklen- 
burg. 

Extinction of the direct 
line of the old dukes of 
Brabant. 

Golden bull of the empe- 
ror Charles IV. 

Taking of Adrianople by 
Amarat I. The Turks 
established in Europe. 

Philip the Bold, founder of 
the line of new dukes of 
Burgundy. 

Destruction of the empire 
of the Moguls in Chi- 
na. 

Timour or Tamerlane. 

Flourishing condition of 
the Hanseatic league. — 
The Piast kings of Po- 
land end with Casimir 
the Great : limitation of 
the royal power in Po- 
land. 

Accession of the Stuarts to 
the throne of Scotland. 

The margraviat of Bran- 
denburg passes from the 
house of Bavaria to that 
of Luxemburg. 

Defeat of the Genoese at 
Chiozza : decline of Ge- 
noa. Union of Denmark 
and Norway. Adoption 
of Lewis I. of- Anjou by 
Jane I. of Naples. 



19 



410 



SYNCHRONITIC TABLE OF THE 



1380 



1385 



1386 

1390 

1395 
1396 



1397 
1399 



1400 
1402 



1404 

1406 
1407 
1409 
1412 



1414 



1415 



1416 
1417 



HISTORY OF RELIGION. 



Christianity introduced in- 
to Lithuania. 



John Huss. 



Innocent III. at Rome. 



Gregory XII. at Rome. 



Council of Pisa. Three 
popes. 



Council of Constance con 
yoked for the extinction 
of the great schism and 
limitation of the sacer- 
dotal power. 

John Huss burnt at Con- 
stance. 



End of the great schism of 
the West: election of 
Martin V. 



PRANCE AND ENGLAND. EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA. 



Accession of the Red Rose 
in England. Henry IV. 
kmg. 



Battle of Agincourt. 



Victory of the Tana'is over 
the Tartars of Kaptschak 
by Dimitry Iwanowitsch 
Dunskoi. 

Aug. 14. Battle of Aljuba- 
rotta, won by the Portu- 
guese over the Castil- 
lans. John I., called the 
Bastard, ascends the 
throne of Portugal. 

Jagellon, grand-duke of Li- 
thuania, chosen king of 
Poland under the name 
of Vladislaw V. 

Manufactory of linen pa- 
per established at Nu- 
remberg. 

Milan made a duchy for the 
Visconti. 

Battle of Nicopolis by Ba- 
jazet I. The Turks mas- 
ters of Bulgaria. 

Union of Calmar. 



Battle of Ancyra: defeat 
of Bajazet I. by Timour : 
anarchy of the Turks. 

The Teutonic order ac- 
quires Samogitia. Great- 
ness of the order. Origin 
of the Polish diets. 

Pisa passes under the do- 
minion of Florence. 

Foundation of the bank of 
St. George of Genoa. 



Eric, the Pomeranian king 
of the union of the north. 
The kingdom of Sicily, 
which had long been 
held by a younger branch 
of Aragon, is annexed to 
Aragon. 



Taking of Ceuta by John 
I. of Portugal : begin- 
ning of the maritime ac- 
tivity of the Portuguese, 
the Austrians stripped of 
their possessions in Swit- 
zerland. 

Foundation of the duchy 
of Savoy : Amedeus 
VIII. 

First mention of the Bohe- 
mians or gipsies in Eu- 
rope. 



HISTORY OP THE MIDDLE AGES. 



411 



A.D. HISTORY OF RELIGION. FRANCE AND ENGLAND. EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA, 



1417 



1418 

1420 



1422 



1423 



1429 
1430 

1431 
1432 

1434 
1435 

1436 

1437 
1438 



1439 



1440 



Peace of Troyes in Cham- 
pagne : the crown of 
France secured to the 
king of England to the 
exclusion of the Dau- 
phin. 

Death of Henry V., king 
of England, and Charles 
VI., king of France. — 
Charles VII. king of 
France. 



Joan of Arc. Charles VII, 
crowned at Rheims. 



Council of Basle. Eugene 
IV. 



Dissolution of the council 
of Basle by Eugene IV. 



Deposition of Eugene IV. : 
schism of Basle. Coun- 
cil of Florence. Momen- 
tary union of the Greeks 
and Latins. 



Sept. 21. Peace of Arras 
between Charles VII 
and the duke of Bur- 
gundy : decline of the 
Enghsh party in France. 



The electorate of Branden- 
burg conferred upon Fre- 
deric Hohenzollern, bur- 
grave of Nuremberg, 
founder of the house of 
Brandenburg. 

War of the Hussites. 

Discovery of the island of 
Madeira by the Portu- 
guese. 



The house of Misnia re- 
places that of Ascania 
m the electorate of Sax- 
ony. Frederic I. elec- 
tor, founder of the pre- 
sent house of Saxony. — 
Adoption of Lewis III. 
of Anjou by Jane II. of 
Naples. 



Philip the Good, duke of 
Burgundy, acquires Bra- 
bant : power of the dukes 
of Burgundy. Lucca be- 
comes again a republic. 



Discovery of the Azores by 
the Portuguese. Ed- 
ward king of Portugal. 

Vladislaw VI. king of Po- 
land. 

Death of Jane II., last 
queen of Naples of the 
house of Anjou. 



Printing invented at Stras- 
burg by John Guttenberg 
of Mayence. 



Accession of the house of 
Hapsburg of Austria to 
the throne of the em- 
pire. Albert II. empe- 
ror. Pragmatic sanction 
of Bourges. Alphonso 
v., called the African, 
king of Portugal. 

Pragmatic sanction of Ma- 
yence. Eric the Pome- 
ranian, king of the Union 
of the North, deposed. 

Frederic HI. emperor of 
Germany. 



412 



SYNCHRONITIC TABLE. 



A.D. HISTORY OP RELIGION. 



1440 

1443 

1444 
1445 

1447 

1448 



1449 
1452 



1453 



Uoman concordate be- 
tween the Germans and 
Eugene IV. 

Concordate of Vienna be- 
tween Frederic III. and 
Nicholas V. 



End of the schism of Basle. 



PRANCE AND ENGLAND. EUROPE, ASIA & AFRICA. 



Establishment of standing 
armies in France under 
Charles VII. 



War of the two Roses. 

Expulsion of the English 
from the whole of France 
except Calais. 



Christopher the Bavarian 
king of the Union of the 
North. 

Alphonso v., king of Ara- 
gon, siezes the kingdom 
of Naples. Scanderbeg 
(George Castriota), con- 
queror of the Turks. 

Victory of Verna by Amu- 
rat II. 

Casimir IV. king of Po- 
land. 

Accession of the Sforza to 
the duchy of Milan. 

Accession of the house of 
Oldenburg to the throne 
of Denmark and Nor- 
way. Charles Cnutson 
(Charles VIU.) king of 
Sweden. 

Foundation of the duchy of 
Modena. 

May 29. Taking of Con- 
stantinople by Mahomet 
II. End of the Greek 
empire. 



GEKEALOGY OF THE MEROVINGIAN RACE. 



413 



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414 



GENEALOGY OF THE MEROVINGIAN RACE. 



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CAROLINGIAN EMPERORS AND KINGS OF ITALY. 



415 



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THE CAROLINGIAN KINGS OF FRANCE. 



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THE CAPETIAN DYNASTY TO LEWIS THE FAT. 



417 



GENEALOGY OF THE CAPETIAN DYNASTY TO LEWIS THE FAT. 



Conrad Welf or the Saxon Widekind. 



Robert, called the Strong or the Angiovin, 
duke of France, 861-866. 



Hugh the Abbey, duke of 
France, 866-886. 



Eudes, count of Paris, duke of France, 

king, 888-898. 



Robert I., duke, 889: 
king, 922-923. 



Emma, wife of Raoul of Burgundy, 

queen of France, 923-936 ; 

no posterity. 



Hugh the Great, duke of France, &c., 

923-956 ; married Hedwige, 

sister of Otho the Great. 



Hugh Capet duke, 956 : 
king, 987-996. 



Otho duke of Burgundy, Henry duke of Burgundy, 

956-965. 965-1002. 

No posterity. 



Robert II. king, 996-1031. 

Marries — 1. Bertha of 

Burgundy ; 2. Constance 

of Provence. 



Henry I. duke of Burgundy, 1015: 

king, 1031-1060. 

Marries Anne of Russia. 



Robert duke of Burgundy, 1062 ; 

source of the first hereditary 

dukes. 



Philip I. king, 1060-1108. Marries- 
1. Bertha of Holland ; 
2. Bertrade of Monfort. 

, ^ ^ 

Lewis VL the Fat, king, 1108. 



Hugh the Great, count of Vermandois 
and Valois in right of his wife Adelaide. 
(Branch extinct in the 6th generation.) 



18* 



418 



FIRST BRANCH OF THE CAPETIANS. 



FIRST BRANCH OF THE CAPETIANS. 



Hugh Capet king, ! 



Robert II. king, 996. 
Henry I. king, 1031. 
Philip I. kmg, 1050. 



Lewis VI. the Fat, 1108. 



Lewis the Young, king, 1137. 

Marries — 1. Eleanor of Guy- 

eime ; 2. Constance of Castile ; 

3. Alice of Champagne. 



Robert the Great, 

source of 

the houses of 

Drew and Brittany. 



Philip II. Augustus king, 1180. 
Marries — 1. Isabelle heiress of 
Artois; 2. Ag7ies of Meranie. 



Margaret. Marries 
Henry Court-Martel. 



Lewis VIII. king, 1223. 
Marries Blanche of Castile. 



Philip count of 
Boulogne. 



Peter, 7th son. Marries 
Isabelle, daughter and heir- 
ess of Reginald of Courte- 

nay, count of Auxerre. 

A 

Peter emp. of C. P. 1216. 



Robert emp. of C. P. 
1221. 



Lewis IX. k. 1226. 

Marries Margaret of 

Provence. 



Robert I., source 
of the branch of 
Artois ; ext. 1272. 



Aiplionso, c. of 

Poitiers, t 1271. 

Marries .lane, 

heiress of 

Toulouse. 



Charles, c. of An- 

jou, t 1285. Marries 

Beatrice of Provence, 

source of kings of 

Sicily. 



Philip III. the Bold, king |Robert c. of Clermont, source Peter c. Blanche. 

1270. Marries — 1. Isabelle of the branches of Bourbon, of of Marries Fer- 

of Aragon ; 2. Mai-y of Vendome, and Montpensier. Alencon. dinand of 

Brabant. ' Lacerda. 



Philip IV. the Fair, king Charles. Marries Cath- Lewis, source Margaret. Mar- 

1285. Marries Jane, arine of Courtenay, of the house ries Edward I., k. 

heiress of Navarre and source of the houses of of Evreux- of England. 

Champaign. Valois and Alencon. Navarre. 

Lewis X. the Obstinate, Philip V. the Long, k. 1316. Charles IV. the Isabelle 

king, 1314. Marries Jane of Bourgogne- Fair, king 1322, Marries Ed- 

I Comte. 1 1328. ward II. 



John I. Jane, heiress of Jane, heiress of the coun- 

Fosthutnous. Navarre. ties of Burgundy and Artois. 

Marries Philip Marries Eudes IV., duke of 
of Evreux. Burgundy. 




THE FIRST BRANCH OF VALOIS. 



419 



GENEALOGY OF THE FIRST BRANCH OF YAIOIS. 



Charles of Valois, second son of Philip the Bold. 
A, 



Philip VI. of Valois, k. 1328. 
Marries Jane of Burgundy. 



Charles II. count of Alencon, 
source of a family ext. in'l525. 



John II. the Good, k. 1350. Marries 
Bonne, daughter of John of Bohemia. 



Philip I., first duke of Or- 
leans. No posterity. 



Charles V., k. 1364. Marries 
Jane of Bourbon. 



Lewis, head of the 

second house of 
Anjou and Naples. 



Philip the Bold, duke of Bur- 
gundy, 1363. Marries Marga- 
ret, heiress of Flanders. 



Charles VI. k. 1380. Mar- 
ries Isabelle of Bavaria. 



Lewis, duke of Orleans, source 
of the second Valois. 



Charles VII. k. 1422. Mar. 

Mary of Anjou. 
A 



Catherine. Mar. — 1. Henry V.; 
2. Owen Tudor. 



Lewis XI. k. 1461. Mar.— 

1. Margaret of Scotland ; 

2. Charlotte of Savoy. 



Charles, duke of Berri, Norman- 
dy, and Guyenne. 



John the Fearless, 
1404. 



Philip the Good, 
1419. 



Charles the Rash, 
1467. 



Mary, heiress in 1477. Mar. 
Maximilian of Austria. 



Charles vm. k. 1483-1498. 

Mar. Anne of Brittany. 

(No sons.) 



Anne of Beaujeu. 



Jane of Orleans. 



420 



KINGS OF ENGLAND. 



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CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES OF THE EMPERORS OF THE EAST. 429 



CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES OF THE EMPERORS OF THE EAST, 

FROM ARCADIUS, SON OF THEODOSIUS THE GREAT, TILL THE 
ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF COMNENES. 

1. — Arcadius, eldest son of Theodosius the Great, emp., 395 ; t 408. 

2. — Theodosius II., the younger son of Arcadius, emp., 408 ; t 450. 

3. — Marcian, emp., 450 ; t 457. Married Pulcheria. daughter of Arcadius. 

4.— Leo I , emp., 457 ; t 474. 

5. — Leo II., the Younger, emp., 474; t 474. 

6. — Zeno, father of Leo II., emp., 474; t 491. 

7. — Anastasius I., Dicorias, emp., 494 ; t 518. 

8.— Justin I., the Elder, emp., 518; t 527. 

9. — Justinian I., nephew of Justin, emp., 527 : t 565. 
10. — Justinian II., the Younger, emp., 5tJ5; t 578. 
II. — Tiberius II., surnamed Constantine, emp. , 578; t 582. 
12.— Maurice, emp., 582; killed, 602. 
13.— Phocas, emp,,602; killed, 610. 
14.— Heraclius, emp., 610; t 641. 

15. — Heraclius Constantine, son of Heraclius, emp., 641 ; t 641. 
16. — Heracleonas, brother of Cons., emp., 641 ; exiled, 641. 
17. — Constant II., son of Herac. Const., emp., 641 ; 1 668. 
18. — Constantine III., Pogonat, son of Constant, emp., 668; 1 685. 
19. — Justinian II., son of Constantine Pogonat, emp., 685; dethroned, 695 : re-estab- 
lished, 705 ; killed, 711. 
20. — Leontius, emp., 695; dethroned, 698. 
21. — Absimar Tiberius, emp., 698; dethroned, 705. 
22. — Philipicon, surnamed Bardanus, emp., 711 ; killed, 713. 
23. — Anastasius II., or Artemius, emp., 713 ; dethroned, 716 ; killed, 719. 
24.— Theodosius III., emp., 716 ; abdicates, 717. 
25.— Leo III., the Isaurian, emp., 717; t 741. 
26. — Constantine IV., Copronymus, son of Leo, emp., 741 ; t 775. 
27. — Leo IV., surnamed Chazarus, emp., 775 ; t 780. 
28.— Constantine V,, son of Leo, emp., with his mother Irene, 780; killed by his 

mother, 797. 
29.— Irene, alone, 797 ; deposed, 802 ; t 803. 
80.— Nicephoras, emp., 802; t 811. 

31. — Stauratius, son of Nicephoras, emp., 811 ; abdicates, 811 ; t 812. 
32. — Michel I., Curopalates, emp., 811 ; dethroned, 813. 
33.— Leo v., the Armenian, emp., 813 ; killed, 820. 
34. —Michel II., the Stammerer, emp., 820 ; t 829. 
35._Theophilus, son of Michel II., emp., 829 ; t 842. 
36.— Michel III., the Drunkard, son of Theophilus, emp., 842; killed, 867. 
37. — Basil, the Macedonian, emp., 867 ; t 886. 
38.— Leo VI., the Philosopher, son of Basil, emp., 886 ; t 911. 

39.— Alexander, son of Leo VI., emp., 911, with his nephew Constantine VL ; t 912. 
40. — Constantine VI., Porphyrogenitus, son of Leo VI., emp., 911 ; dethroned by his 

father-in-law, Romanus I., towards 919; re-established, 945 ; t 959. 
41, 42, 43, 44. — Romanus I., Lecapenes, and his three sons, Christopher, Stephen, and 

Constantine VII., emp., 919, 920, 928 ; dethroned, 944, 945. 
45. — Romanus II., the younger son of Constantine VI., emp., 959 ; t 963. 
46. — Nicephoras Phocas, enip., 963; assass., 969. 
47. — John Zimisces, emp., 969 ; t 976. 

48, 49.— Basil II., and Constantine VIII., son of Romanus II., emp., 976 ; 1 1025 and 1028. 
50.— Romanus III., Argyrus, emp., 1028; 1 1034. 
51.— Michel IV., the Paphlagonian, emp., 1034 ; 1 1041. 
52.— Michel V., Calaphates, emp., 1041 ; deposed, 1042. 

53, 54. — Zoe, enmress, and Constantine IX., Monomachus, emp., 1042; 1 1054. 
55. — Theodora, Zoe's sister, empress, 1054 ; t 1056. 
56, — Michel VI., Stratioticus, emp., 1056; abdicated, 1057. 
57.— Isaac Conmenes, emp., 1057; abdicated, 1059. 



430 GREEK EMPERORS OF THE HOUSE OF COMNENES. 

58.— Constantine X., Ducas, emp., 1059; T 1067. 

59, 60. — Eudocia, empress, Michael Parapinaces, Andronicus, and Constantine, her 

sons, emperors, with Romanus IV., Diogenes, her husband, associated to the 

empire, 1068 ; and killed, 1071. 
61. — Michael VII,, Parapinaces, brother of Constantine, Ducas, and Eudocia, sols 

emperor, 1071; abdicated, 1078. 
62. — Nicephoras Botoniates, emp., 1078; dethroned, 1081. 



GREEK EMPERORS OE THE HOUSE OF COMNENES. 

Manuel Comnenes, governor of Nice. 



57 — ^Isaac Comnenes, proc. emp., 1057; resigned, 1059, John Comnenes Curopa- 

in favor of Constantine Ducas : t 1061. lates, t 1067. 



63. — Alexis Comnenes set up emperor against Nicephoras Botoniates, 1081 : 1 118. 

, A , 

64. — John Comnenes, the Aime Comnenes, known Isaac Comnenes Sebasta- 

Fair, emp., 1118 : 1 1243. by her writings. crator. 

( \ ( \ 

C5. — Manuel Comnenes, emp., 1143: 67. — Andronicus I., Comnenes the Elder, 

t 1180. emp., 1183; killed, 1185. 

. ^ , , ^ > 

66. — Alexis 11., Comnenes, emp., 1180 ; dethroned Manuel Comnenes, blinded, 

and killed by Andronicus, 1183. 1186. 



_V^. 



Alexis Comnenes, David Comnenes. 

source of the 
emperor of Trebisond, 
ext. in 1461. 



GREEK EMPERORS OF THE HOUSE OF ANGELUS. 



Constantine Angelas, Gov. of Sirmium, about 1173. Mar. Theodora Comnenes, 
daughter of Alexis I. 



Andronicus Angelus, exiled, 1183. John Angelus, Sebastocrator, 1185. 



68. — Isaac II., 69. — Alexis III., Angelus Com- Isaac Michael Ange- 

Angelus, emp., nenes, emp., 1195, by the deposi- Angelus. lus, Comnenes, 

1185 ; dethroned, tion of his brother ; dethroned, I source of the de- 

1195; re-estab., 1203 ; shut up, 1205. spots of Epirus. 

1203: tl204. I | 



70. — Alexis IV., Angelus, Anna Comnenes. 71. — Alexis V., Ducas- 

emp., with his father. Marries Theodore Las- Murzuphylus, emp., 

l203; killed, 1204. caris. 1204 ; killed, 1204. 



LATIN EMPERORS OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 



431 



LATIN EMPERORS OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 



Baldwin, count of Flanders, 1 1195. 



I 

1. — Baldwin I, elected and 
crowned emperor at Constan- 
tinople, 1204 : 1 1206. 
***** 

5. — John of Brienne, titular 

king of Jerusalem, guardian 

of Baldwin II., 1229 ; obtains 

the title of emperor, 1231 : 

1 1237. 



2.— Henry, emp., 1206: 
1 1216. 



Yoland, t 1219. Marries 

3. Peter Courtenay, chosen 

emp., 1216 : 1 1219. 



4. — Rohert I., 5. — Baldwin II., emp., 1228; driven 
emp., 1219 : from the throne by Michael Paleolo- 
t 1228. gus, 1261 ; t 1272. Mar. Maria, 

daughter of John of Brienne, titular 
king of Jerusalem, and emperor of 
Constantinople. 



Philip, titular emperor of Constantinople, 1 1285. 



GREEK EMPERORS OF NICE. 



Theodore Lascaris I., proclaimed emperor at Nice, 1206: 1 1222. Marries Anna, 
daughter of the emperor Alexis III., Angelus, 1198 (V. house of Angelus). 

, ' . 

Irene Lascaris, 1 1241. Mar. John Ducas Vataeb, emp., 1222: 1 1255. 



Theodore Ducas Lascaris, emp., 1255: t 1259. 



John Lascaris, emp., 1259, at six years of age ; dethroned and blinded by his guar- 
dian, Michel Paleologus, 1260 : t after 1284. 



432 GREEK EMPERORS OF THE HOUSE OF PALEOLOGUS. 



GREEK EMPERORS OF THE HOUSE OE PALEOLOGUS. 



1. — ^Michel Paleologus, proclaimed emp. at Nice, 1260 ; retakes Constantinople, 1261 : 

t 1282. 



2. — Andronicus II., Paleologus, emp., 1282 ; dethroned by his grandson, 1328 : 1 1332. 



Michel Paleologus, associated to the 
empire by his father, 1295 : 1 1320. 



Theodore Paleologus, source of the 
marquisses of Montferrat, extinct 1533. 



3. — Andronicus III., Paleologus the Younger, 5.— John Catacuzene, guardian of .lohn 



emp., 1328— 1332: t 1341. 



4. — John I., Paleologus, emp., 1341 ; driven 
away by John Catacuzene, 1347 ; re-estab- 



I., Paleologus, makes himself emp., 
1341-1347; abiUcates, 1355: t . . . . 



6. — Matthew Cata- Theodora, marries 
lished' 1355 : t 1391. Mar. Helen, daughter of cuzene, proclaimed Orkhan, sultan of 
John Catacuzene, 1347. emp. by his father, the Turks, 1347. 



Andronicus, excluded from 7. — Manuel Pal- ' IcSO. 




the throne for having eologus, emp.. 






conspired against his father. 1391: t 1425. 






8.— JohnII.,Pal- 


9.— John Andronicus 10. — Con- 


Demetrius 


Thomas Pal- 


elogus, associ- 


III., Pal- Paleologus, stantine Pal- 


Paleologus, 


eologus, 


ated to the em- 


eologus, prince of eologus, 
emp., Thessaloni- Dragases, 


despot of the 


Prince of 


pire by his uncle 


Pelopon- 


Achaia and 


Manuel, 1399 ; 


1425 : ca, dethvon- last emp.. 


nesus, de- 


the Pelopon- 
nesus, de- 


reigns alone 


t 1448. ed, 1425. 1448 ; killed 


throned. 


about 1400 ; ab- 


at the taking 


1469 : 1 1471. 


throned. 


dicates towards 


of Const., 




1469 : t at 


1402. 


1453. 




Rome, 1465. 




Andrew Paleologus cedes in 


Sophia 1 1503. 


Mar. Ivan 




1494 his rights to Charles 


Vasilievitsch, 


first gr. d. of 




VIII., k. of France. 


Russia, 


1472. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES OF THE POPES. 433 

SULTANS OE THE OTTOMAN TURKS TO MAHOMET II. 

Soliman Schah. 



Ertogrul or Ortogrul, 1 1289. 



1. — Osman or Ottoman I., lays the foundation of the new dominion of the Turks 
towards 1300 : t 1326, 



2. — Orkhan takes the title of Sultan ^ Padischah : 1 1359. 

r ' — ' ^ 

Soliman seizes Gallipoli, 1358: 1 1358. 3.— Amurat or Mourad I., called Gazi or 

the Conqueror, Sultan 1359 ; takes 
Adrianople 1360 : t 1389. 

,.- ^ ^ 

4. — Bajazet I., called Rdrim or the Thunderbolt, Sultan 1389 ; defeated and taken 
prisoner by Timour, the 16th June, 1402 : t 8th March, 1403. 



Soliman I. receives from Ti- 6. — Musa receives from Timour 7. — Mahomet I. sole 

mour the investiture of the investiture of Turkey Sultan after an 

Turkey in Europe, 1403 : in Asia, 1403 : kiUed 1413. anarchy of ten years, 

kiUed 1410. 1413 : t 1421. 

,, * ^ 

8.— Amurat or Mourad II., Sultan 1421 : 1451. Mustapha, killed 1424. 

> ^ , 

9.— Mahomet H., Sultan 1451 ; takes Constantinople 1453: 1 1481. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES OP THE POPES, 

FROM GREGORY VII. TO THE END OF THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE "WEST. 

1.— Gregory vn., elected April 22, 1073, confirmed by the Emperor Henry IV. : 
t May 25, 1085. 

2.— Victor III., elected May 24, 1086 : t September 16, 1087. 

3.— Urban II., elected March 12, 1088 : t July 29, 1099. 

4.— Pascal H., elected August 13, 1099: t January 21, 1118. 

5.— Gelasius II., elected Januaiy 25, 1118: t January 2.5, 1119. 

6.— Calixtus n., elected February 1, 1119 : t December 12, 1124. 

7.— Honorius II., elected December 21, 1124 : t February 24, 1130. 

8.— Innocent II., elected February 15 1130 : t September 24, 1143. 

9.— Celestine U., elected September 26, 1143 : t March 9, 1144. 
10.— Lucius n., elected March 12, 1144 : t February 25, 1145. 
11.— Eueene ID., elected February 27, 1145: t July 8, 1153. 
12.— Anastasius IV., elected July 9, 1153 : t December 2, 1154. 
13.— Adrian IV., elected December 3, 1154 : t September 1, 1159. 
14.— Alexander HI., elected September 7, 1159: t August 30, 1181. 
15.— Lucius III., elected September 1, 1181 : t November 24, 1185. 
16._XJrban HI., elected November 25, 1185: t October 19, 1187. 
17.— Gregory VIII., elected October, 20, 1187 : t December 17, 1187. 
18.— Clement III., elected December 19, 1187 : t March 27, 1191. 
19.— Celestine III., elected March 30, 1191 : t January 8, 1198. 
20.— Innocent HI., elected January 8, 1198 : t July 17, 1216. 
21.— Honorius III., elected July 18, 1216 : t March 18, 1227. 
22.— Gregory IX., elected March 19, 1227 : t August 31, 1241. 

23.— Celestine IV., elected towards the end of October, 1241 : t towards Nov. 18, 1241. 
24.— Innocent IV., elected June 25, 1243 : t December 7, 1254. 
25.— Alexander IV., elected December 12, 1254 : t May 25, 1261. 
26.— Urban IV., elected August 29, 1261 : t October 2, 1264. 
27.— Clement IV., elected February 5, 1265 : t November 29, 1268. 
28.— Gregory X., elected September 1, 1271 : t January 10, 1276. 
29.— Innocent V., elected February 21, 1276 : t June 22, 1276. 



434 



CHRONOLOGY OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS. 



30.— Adrian V., elected and 1 1276. 

31.— John XXI.. elected September 13, 1276 : t May 17, 1277. 
32.— Nicholas 111., elected November 25, 1277 : t August 22, 1280. 
33._Martin IV., elected February 22, 1281 : t March 28, 1285. 
■ 34.— Honorius IV., elected April 2, 1285 : t April 3, 1287. 
35.— Nicholas IV., elected February 15, 1288: t April 4, 1292. 
36. — Celestine V., elected July 5, 1294; abdicates December 13, 1294. 
37.— Boniface vm., elected December 24. 1294 : t October 11, 1303. 
38.— Benedict XI., elected October 22, 1303 : t July 7, 1304. 
39.— Clement v., elected June 5,1305; establishes himself at Avignon, 1309: t April 

20, 1314. 
40.— John XXII., elected August 7, 1316 : t December 4, 1334. 
41.— Benedict XII., elected December 20, 1334 : t April 25, 1342. 
42.— Clement VI,, elected May 7, 1342: t December 6, 1352. 
43. — Innocent VI., elected December 18, 1352 : t September 2, 1362. 
44.— Urban V., elected month of September, 1362: t December 19, 1370. 
45.— Gregory XI. elected December 30, 1370 : t March 27, 1378. 



POPES OF THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST, 



SOMAN POPES. 

Urban VI., elected at Rome, 
April 9, 1378: t October 
18, 1389. 

Boniface IX., elected Nov. 
2, 1389 : t October 1, 1404. 

Innocent VII., elected Oct. 
17, 1404 : t Nov. 6, 1406. 

Gregory XII., elected Nov. 
30, 1406; deposed by the 
Council of Pisa, June 5, 
1409 ; resigned the Papacy 
at the Council of Con- 
stance, 1415. 



AVIGNONESE POPES. 

Clement VII., elected Sept. 
21. 1378: t September 16, 
1394. 

Benedict XIII., elected Sept. 
28, 1394 ; deposed by the 
Councils of Pisa and of 
Constance in 1409 & 1417 : 
1 1424. 



PISAN POPES. 



Alexander V., elected at the 
Council of Pisa, June 26, 
1409 : t May 3, 1410. 

John XXni., elected May 17, 
1410 ; deposed at the Coun- 
cil of Constance, May 29, 
1415. 



FROM THE END OP THE GREAT SCHISM TO THE TAKING OP 
CONSTANTINOPLE. 

Martin V., elected at the Council of Constance, November 11, 1417: t Feb. 21, 1431. 
Eugene IV., elected March 6, 1431 : t February 23, 1447. 
Nicholas V., elected March 6, 1447 : t March 24, 1455. 



CHRONOLOGY OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS. 



ORDEKS. 

1. — Solitaries, 

2. — Cenobites, 

3. — Augustinians, - 

4. — Maronites, 

5. — Benedictines, - 

6.— Of St. Basil, 

7. — Cartesians, 

8.— Of Mercy, - 

9.— Trinitarians, or Mathurins. 
10. — Carmelites, - 

Barefooted Carmelites, 
II. — Franciscans, 
11. — Cordeliers. 
12. — Domenicans, 
13. — Premontres., 
14. — Bernardins, 
15. — Celestins, 
16. — Minims, 
17. — Jesuits, - 
18. — Capuchins, ■ 
19.— Trappists, 



FOUNDERS. 

St. Paul, the Hermit, 
St. Anthony, Abbot, 
St. Augustin, 
St. Maron, 
St. Benedict, 
St. Basil, 
St. Bruno, 
St. Peter of Nola, 
St. John of Matha, - 
The Blessed Abbot, 
St. John de la Croix, 
St. Francis of Assisa, 



St. Dominic, 

St. Norbert, 

St. Bernard, 

St. Celestin, 

St. Francis de Paola, 

St. Ignatius de Loyola, 



de Ranc6, 



DATES. 

about 300 
300 
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400 
500 
530 
1086 
1192 
1198 
1204 



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1254 
1435 
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DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 



445 



TABULAE VIEW OF THE DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 



PRINCIPAL KINGDOMS. 



888.— Arnolph of Carin- 
thia, natural son of Carlo- 
man, chosen king at the Diet 
of Tribur, receives the hom- 
age of the kings of France, 
Italy, and Burgundy, and 
disposes of the kingdom of 
Lorraine in favor of his 
natural son, Zventimbold or 
Svantipolk. 

He gives the duchy of Ca- 
rintha to Sviatipolk, prince 
of the Moravians. 



894. — Amolph is called in- 
to Italy by Pope Formosa, 
who wished to strengthen 
the temporal power of the 
Holy See, by giving Rome 
a foreign sovereign. 

896. — Amolph enters Italy 
after Guide's death, and is 
crowned emperor at Rome. 
But the incursions of the 
Moravians recall him to Ger- 
many. He forms an alliance 
against them, with the Hun- 
garians, recently arrived in 
Pannonia. 

899-911.— Reign of Lewis 
IV., the Child, son of Ar- 
nolph, and last Carolingian 
in Germa)iy. 



ITALY. 



888. — Guido and Berenga- 
rius, dukes of Spoleio and 
Friuli.contend for the crown; 
the Adige forms the limits 
of their possessions. 

891.— Guido, already pro- 
claimed king at the Diet of 
Pavia, goes to Rome to be 
crowned emperor and king 
of the French. He asso- 
ciates his son Lambert in 
the imperial dignity. 



894. — ^Fjrst expedition of 
Arnolph, who does not go 
be.yond Piacenza,and returns 
by the Burgundian Alps. 



896. — Lambert is unable 
to prevent Amolph's corona- 
tion. After his retreat he 
becomes reconciled with Be- 
rengarius, who preserves the 
title of king, and was the 
last to wear the imperial 
crown of the Carolingians. 
Anarchy is to reign in Italy 
till the I'e-establishment of 
the empire by Otho the 
Great, in 962. 



38. — Eudes, son of Robert 
the Strong, duke of France 
and count of Paris, obtains 
the crown from the nobles, 
to the prejudice of Charles 
the Simple, sole legitimate 
descendant of Charlemagne. 
He thwarts the designs of 
Guido of Spoleto, and Lewis 
of Provence, upon the king- 
dom of France ; acknow- 
ledges himself vassal of Ar- 
nolph, and subdues cound 
Raynolph, who had made 
himself kins of Aquitania. 

893.— Charles the Simple 
is crowned at Rheims, and 
puts himself at the head of 
a powerful party to recover 
his inheritance. 

96. — After three years of 
civil war, the usurper and 
the pretender sign a treaty 
of division, which gives to 
Charles the provinces north 
of the Seine. 

898. -Charles becomes sole 
king by the death of his 
rival. But the great soon 
snatch from him the crown, 
to which they had already 
disputed his right. 



KINGDOMS OF THE SECOND ORDER. 



CISJURAN BURGUNDY. 



879. — Boson, brother-in- 
law of Charles the Bald, 
after having lost his duchy 
of Pavia, Itad obtained the 
government of Cisjuran Bur- 
gundy, of which he was 
crowned king and patrician, 
at Mantaille, after the death 
of Lewis the Stammerer. 
This kingdom comprised the 
country situated between the 
Saone and the Jura, the up- 
per Loire and the Alps. 



TRANSJURAN BURGUNDY. 



S8.— Rudolph Welf,count 
of Transjuran Burgundy, 
declares himself indepen- 
dent after the death of Char- 
les the Fat. He is chosen 
king in a Diet held at St. 
Maurice, in Valais. His 
states lay between tlie 
Rhone, the Jura, and the 
Reuss. 



NAVARRE. 



About 831, Aznar, count 
of the march of Navarre, 
had thrown off his depend- 
ence on Lewis the Debon- 
naire. From that time the 
farther Basques no longer 
belonged to the Frank em- 
pire. 

857. — Garcias Ximenes, a 
descendant of Aznar, takes 
the title of king of Pampe- 
luna. 



446 



DISMEMBERBIENT OF NAVARRE. 



CISJURAN BURGUNDY. 



TRANSJURAN BURGUNDY. 



NAVARRE. 



930. ■ — The two Burgundies are united, and form the 
kingdom of Aries. This union is made for the advantage 
of Rudolph II., king of Transjuran Burgundy, by the ces- 
sion of Hugh of Provence, his competitor for the crown 
of Italy. 

1033. — The kingdom of Aries is united to that of 
Germany, by the will of Rudolph III., who bequeathes 
it to his nepliew, the emperor Conrad II. 



1000.— The kingdom of 
Navarre, enlarged by the 
counties of Aragon and Cas- 
tile, reaches the height of 
its power under Sancho the 
Great. 

1835.— Sancho III., at his 
death, divides his kingdom 
among his children. 



DISMEMBERMENT OF NAVARRE. 



CASTILE. 

Capital, Burgos. 



ARAGON ; 
OR, COUNTY OP JACCA. 

Capital, \st Huesca. 



1033. — Ferdinand I. ob- 
tains from his father the 
country of Castile, a raoun- 1 
tainous district, covered with ; 
castles, of which Amaya was j 
the chief place. This coun- j 
try was formed into a king- 
dom on the marriage of Fer- 
dinand with a sister of the 
king of Leon. The two 
kingdoms were united after 
a battle in which Bermuda 
III. was conquered and killed 
by his brother-in-law (1037). 

With Bermuda ended the 
line of the old kings of Ovi- 
edo, whose States had been 
enlarged at the expense of 
the Mussulmen by the con- 
quests of Alphonso the Cath- 
olic, of Ramiro, and, above 
all, ol Alphonso the Great. 
Leon was the capital from 
914. 

Under Ferdinand begin the 
exploits of the Cid and the 
power of the kings of Cas- 
tile. 



NAVARRE. 

Capital, Pampeluna. 



1035. — Garcia IV. suc- 
ceeds to the crown of Na- 
varre as eldest son of San- 
cho. This kingdom, shut up 
between France and the 
Christian States of Castile 
and Aragon, cannot extend 
like these by conquests over 
its neighbors. It comprised, 
besides Navarre Proper, the 
Cantabrian republics of Bis- 
cay, Alava, and Guipuscoa. 



1035. — Ramiro I. gives 
some importance to his little 
kingdom by the anne.xation 
of Soprarbe and Ribagorce, 
which had fallen to a fourth 
son of Sancho the Great. 

Ramiro was killed at Graos 
fighting the Moors of the 
Eiaro. The establishment 
of the old Cortes of Aragon 
is attributed to him. 

1096— Pedro Sanchez 
takes Huesca from the Moors, 
and makes it his capital. 

Synchronism. — The dismemberment of Navarre, 
which gave rise to the two principal Christian kingdoms 
of Spain, coincides exactly with the dissolution of the 
caliphate of Cordova in 1031. 



TABULAR VIEW OF THE THREE CALIPHATES. 



447 



TABULAR VIEW OF THE THREE CALIPHATES. 



OMMIAD CALIPHS. 



756-788. — Abderame I., 
founder of the Caliphate of 
the West. 

His wars against the par 
tisans of the Abassides con 
solidate his throne, but cause 
the loss of Septimania. 

He transplants the sci 
ences and magnificence of 
the Arabs into Spain. 

788-882.— Hescham I. and 
Al-Hakkam I. 

Domestic troubles. Pro- 
gress of the Christians under 
Alphonso the Chaste, king 
of Oviedo. 

8^2-852. — Abderame II., 
the Victorious. 

He forms an alliance with 
the emperor Michel the 
Stammerer against the Ca 
liph of BagdaB. 

844. — The Northmen plun- 
der Lisbon, Cadiz, Seville 
&c. 

851. -^Victory over Ordog- 
no, king of Leon. 

852.— Mohammed I.— Un- 
der his reign Mussulman 
Spain is torn by intestine 
divisions and foreign war 
Prince Al-Moundhir repuls- 
es the Christians, and re- 
presses the two revolts of 
Musa and of the brigand 
chief Ben-Hafsoun, who had 
become Emir of Saragossa 
The intestine divisions re- 
vive under the foUowinj 
reigns. 

886-912.— Anarchy under 
Al-Moundhir and Abdallah. 
Alphonso the Great, king 
of Leon, extends his domin- 
ions at the expense of the 
Moors. He rebuilds Porto, 
and raises a banner of con- 
quered towns against the 
Mussulmen. 

886-912.— Abderame HI. 
the Great. 

He restores internal peace, 
and the power and glory of 
the Caliphate. 



Africa had recognized the 
Abbassid caliphs ; but the 
Emirs soon reigned there as 
sovereigns, and the author 
ity of the Commanders of 
tlie Faithful was reduced to 
a spiritual supremacy, dis- 
puted by the dissenting sects, 
and lost in 958. 

788. — Edris-ben-Edris, sup 
posed descendant of Mahom- 
et, founds the dynasty of the 
Edrissites in the Maligreb. — 
Fez Becomes his capital in 
807. 

800 — Ibrahim-ben- Aglab, 
head of the Aglabite dy- 
nasty in Carthaginian and 
Tripolitan Africa. — Kairoan, 
capital. 

827. — Conquest of Sicily 
and Malta by the Aglabites. 

Sicily becomes the centre 
of operations of the Mussul- 
man tleets,which land troops 
of pirates and adventurers 
on the coasts of Italy and II 
lyria. 

868.— Toulun, governor of 
Egypt, founds an indepen- 
dent dynasty there. 

908.— The Marabout Obei- 
doUah, chief of the Ishmael- 
itea of the West, dethrones 
the Aglabites and Edressites, 
in 909 and 941. He is chief 
of the Fatimites, and first 
Mahadi. t 944. Capital, 
Mahadiah. 



944. — The Arab Zeiri 
founds the city of Algiers 
(Al Djezair), and makes 
himself master of the sur- 
rounding country, of which 
the Fatimile caliphs grant 
him hereditary possession 
in 972, and where his family 
reigned till 1148, when Roger 
took from them the greater 
part of the coast, and the 
Almoravids, the city of Al- 
iers. These last, fanatical 
sectarians of Abdallah-ben- 



ABBASSID CALIPHS. 



750-754. — Aboul-Abbas 
first Abassid caliph. 

762.— Foundation of Bag- 
dad, under Abon-Giafar-Al- 
manzor. 

785-784.— Mohammed Ma- 
hadi : his generosity and 
magnificence. 

780.— War with the Greek 
empire. Haroun advances 
to Caledonia, and subjects 
the empress here to tribute. 

786-809.— Haroun-al-Ras- 
chid succeeds hia brother 
Al-Hadi. 

His eight expeditions a- 
against the Eastern Ro- 
mans ; defeats of Nicepho- 
ras. 

The Mussulman empire 
reaches its highest degree 
of splendor. Magnificence 
of the court. Brilliant liter- 
ature. Favor and massacre 
of the Barmacids. 

813-833.— Al-Mamon : his 
virtues, talents, tolerance. 
He enlightens hia people, 
and makes them happy. 

838. — War of Amorium, 
in Asia Minor, under Motas- 
aem. 

841.— Introduction of Turk- 
iah slaves into the guard of 
the caliphs. Pretensiona 
and excesses of these troops, 
who favor the insubordina- 
tion of aeveral emirs of Turk- 
ish origin. 

Most of Motassem's suc- 
cessors meet a tragic death. 

873. — Takoub - el - Sofl^ar, 
master of the Seistan, takes 
the Rhoracan territory from 
the Taherides, and causes 
himself to be given the in- 
vestiture also of Farsistan 
and Tabaristan. This pro- 
vincial dynasty prepares the 
union of the caliphate of 
Bagdad. 



448 



TABULAR VIEW OF THE THREE CALIPHATES. 



OMMIAD CALIPHS. 



912. — Victory of Jonquera 
over the Christians, who 
take their revenge at San 
Estevan. 

939. — King Ramiro XL, 
after brilliant successes, los 
es the bloody battle of Si- 
mancas, which leads to a 
peace in 942. 

944.— The rebellion of the 
Beni-Hassoun is crushed af- 
ter lasting 80 years. 



950. — Abderame causes 
himself to be recognized in 
Mahgreb, which, more or 
less contested, was to belong 
to the caliphs of Cordova 
till the usurpation of the 
Zeirites, and even longer. 

Alliance with Constantine 
VII. 

Magnificence of Abderame 
III ; his monuments ; palace 
of Zebra; public schools and 
libraries. 

961-979. — Peaceful reig'i 
of Al-Hakkam II. 

975-1009.— Hescham 11. 

Brilliant victories of the 
hadjeb Mohammed-Alman- 
zor over the Christians. 



986. — Barcelona falls into 
the hands of the Mussulmen, 
who lose it again in 988, by 
the conquest of Borel, count 
ofUrgel. 

998.— Defeat and death of 
Almanzor at Medina-Celi. 

Decline of the caliphate 
of Spain. 

1009.- Mohamed-Alraoha- 
di dethrones Hescham II. 
The caliphate falls a prey 
to rebels and usurpers. 

1031. — Deposition of Hes- 
cham HI. — last caliph. 

Dismemberment of the 
caliphate of Cordova. 

1010.— Kingdom of Mur- 
cia. 



1010. 


" Badajoz. 


1013. 


" Grenada. 


1014. 


" Saragossa. 


1015. 


" Majorca. 


1021. 


" Valencia. 


1023. 


" Seville. 


1026, 


" Toledo. 


1031. 


" Cordova. 



Jasin, make themselves mas 
ters of Sedjelmesah towards 
1050, and found under their 
caliph, Yousef ben-Taschfin, 
in 1069, the city of Morocco, 
which becomes the capital 
of their empire. 



953-975. — Moez Ledinil- 
lah, first caliph. 

968. — Conquest of Egypt 
by his lieutenant, Djewhar, 
or Giafar, who founds at 
Fostat the city of Cairo (El 
Kahira, or the Victorious). 

Cairo becomes the resi- 
dence of the new caliphs 
(969). 

The power of the Fati- 
mites, soon weakened in Af 
rica, gives rise to the forma 



ABBASSID CALIPHS. 



859.— The caliphs of Bag- 
dad rule m Armenia. They 
recognize as superior king 
the pagratide, Achod I., the 
Great, who reigned at Kars, 
and whose family held the 
throne till 1079. About the 
same time the Arabs invade 
the Caucasian districts, and 
seize Teflis. From that time 
the kings of Georgia recog- 
nize the supremacy of tlie 
caliphs. 

890.— Origin of the anti- 
social sect of the Karmats, 
which ruled some time in 
Bahrein and Nedjed. It ex- 
cites civil war, and desolates 
the provinces for a century. 

902. — The Samanides dis- 
posses the Soiiaridesof Kho- 
rassan and the neighboring 
provinces. 

934-940. • 
Rhadi. 

935. — Mohammed - Ibn - 
Rayek, 1st Emiral Omrah. 

Lidependent dynasties rise 



Caliphate of 



tion of several independent on all sides, leaving nothing 
dynasties : tha.t of the Ham- to the caliph but the city of 



adides at Bougie, in 979 ; of 
the Badissites at Tripoli and 
Tunis, &c., &c. But it ex- 
tends at the same time over 
Syria, wliere it finds for 
auxiliaries the Assassins of 
Lebanon. 

980. — Conquest of Syria 
under the reign of Azis- 
Billah. 

996-1021.— Hakem, grand- 
son of Moez, attempts to 
establish a new worship, of 
which he was to be the deity. 
He persecutes the Christians 
and destroys their churches. 

Druzi founds the mystic 
sect of the Druzes, which 
still exist in Lebanon. They 
adore Hakem as a god made 
man. 

1036-1094.— Reign of Mos- 
tanser Billah. He aspires 
to the universal caliphate, 
and reunites those of Cairo 
and Bagdad, which were 
a.gain divided after his death. 

The caliphate of Cairo 
was prolonged till 1171, when 
it was abolished by Saladin. 



Bagdad, with the spiritual 
supremacy. The most dan- 
gerous for the caliph was 
that of the Buids, who to the 
government of Persia added 
the possession of the great 
emirat. 

997-1028.— Mahmoud the 
Gaznovide raises a powerful 
empire in Persia, on the 
ruins of several provmcial 
dynasties. 

He makes himself master 
of a part of India, where he 
destroys the famous temple 
of Sunnat, in 1022. He 
found none but Idolaters in 
this country, who had for- 
gotten the teachings of the 
first Christian apostles. It 
was chiefly there that Islam- 
ism spread over and beyond 
the coast of Malabar. - 

The communication be- 
tween the Mussulmen and 
the Hindoos gave rise to the 
Hindosianee, the modern 
language of India, which 
took the place of the San- 
scrit. This last became the 
learned language of the 
country. 

1028. — Massouh succeeds 
his father Mahmoud, under 
the caliphate of the just 
Kader-BiUah. 



REMARKABLE PERSONS OF THE CRUSADES. 449 

SELJUKS. 

103S.— The Turcomans revolt against Massouh, and overthrow the dominion of the 
Gaznovides, under their chief Toglirul-Beg, grandson of Seljuk, who causes himself to 
be proclaimed Sultan, at Nischabour. He makes himself master of Bagdad, in 1055, 
and strips the last Buid, Malek-Rahim, of the dignity of Emiral-Omrah. 

Alp-Arslan, his successor, makes war upon the Roman emperor Diogenes, and 
makes himself master of Cappadocia (1071) and Armenia. But with the aid of the 
Orpelian princes of Georgia, the Armenians reconquer, for a moment, their nationality, 
of which soon nothing was left them but a vain image in the moxmtains of the Taurus, 
where prince Rhoupen founded a new dynasty, in 1080. Alp-Arslan was indebted to 
his vizn-, the wise and learned Nizam-Oul-Mouk, for the prosperity of his reign and 
the happiness of his people. 

J 072-1092. — Under the reign of Malek-Schah, the Seljuks complete the conquest of 
Asia Minor, Syria, and the country beyond the Oxus. But after his death this vast 
empire was divided, and the sultanates of Kerman, Aleppo (1094), Roum, and Damas- 
cus (1095), tributaries of Persia, formed. 

The sultanate of Persia was successively occupied by three sons of Malek-Schah, 
Barkiarok, Mohammed, and Sandschar. This last counted among his vassals the 
chiefs of the great dynasties of Gour, of Samarcand, Khowaresm, Aderbaidjan, Irak, 
and Moultan. He encouraged the arts of peace, and left, in the East, a reputation 
equal to that of Alexander the Great. 



TABULAR VIEW OF THE REMARKABLE PERSONS OF 
THE CRUSADES. 

FIRST CRUSADE, 

INSTIGATORS. 

Peter the Hermit, and Pope Urban II. 

PRINCES. 

Philip I., king of France. 

Alexis Comnenes, Greek emperor. 

WARRIORS. 

First Army.— Goifrej of Bouillon, duke of Lorraine, is proclaimed king of Pales- 
tine, but refuses. He becomes king of Jerusalem. 

Eustathius of Bouillon, and Baldwin— brothers of Godfrey. 

Baldwin of Bourg— their cousin. 

Baldwin, count of Hainault, Hugh of St. Pol, and Gerard of Cherisy. 

Second Army. — Hugh, count of Vermandois. 

Robert, duke of Normandy. 

Stephen of Blois, and Hubert, count of Flanders. 

Bohemond, prince of Tarentum, and Tancred his friend, both of Norman origin, 
join this army at Rome with 30,000 knights. 

Third Army. — Raymond, count of Toulouse. 

Adhemar of Monteil, bishop of Puy and papal legate. 

Walter, a general, dies with his followers, in attempting to avenge Rinaldo of Bres- 
cia, who, with all liis followers, had been compelled by the Mussulmen to embrace 
Mahonietanism. 



SECOND CRUSADE. 

INSTIGATORS. 

St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, and Eugene III., pope— his disciple. 

PRINCES. 

Lewis VII., king of France. 
Conrad III., emperor of Germany. 
Baldwin III., king of .Jerusalem. 
Manuel Comnenes, Greek emperor. 



450 REMARKABLE PERSONS OF THE CRUSADES. 

Raymond of Poictiers, prince of Antioch, uncle of Eleanor, queen of France. 
Roger, king of Sicily. He offers ships to the crusaders, who refuse them, and by a 
foolish" pride, expose themselves a second time to the perfidy of the Greek emperors. 

WARRIOKS. 

Thierry of Alsace, count of Flanders. 

Everard of Barres, grand-master of the Templars. 

Noureddin, sultan of Aleppo. 



THIRD CRUSADE. 



INSTIGATOR. 



Urban HI.— This pope dies, at Ferrara, of grief, on hearing of the taking of Jeru- 
salem by Saladin. 

PEINCES. 

Philip- Augustus, king of France. 

Richard Coeur-de-Lion, king of England. The rivalry between these two kings 
arose, in part, from their difference of opinion as to who should reign at Jerusalem. 
Philip- Augustus sustained the rights of Conrad, son of the marquis of Monierrat and 
Sybil his widow, who liad married Lusignan, whom Richard favored. 

Frederic Barbarossa, emperor of Germany. 

Isaac Angelus, Greek emperor, who betrayed the crusaders, and formed a secret 
alliance with Saladin. 

KINGS OP JERUSALEM. 

Baldwin IV., sick, abdicates in favor of Guido of Lusignan, husband of his sister 
Sybil. Lusignan, compelled to abandon the throne, goes to reign at Cyprus, which 
Richard, who had conquered it, cedes to him. 

Guido of Lusignan. 

Amaury. This successor of Lusignan marries Isabella, widow of Henry, count of 
Champagne, who had the title of king of Jerusalem. 

WARRIORS. 

Saladin, sultan of Egypt. 
Malek-Adhel, his brother. 
Rinaldo of Chatillon. 
, Leopold, duke of Austria. 
Conrad, son of the marquis of Montferrat. 
Josselin of Courtenay. 
William, Archbishop of Tyre. 
The duke of Suabia. 



FOURTH CRUSADE. 

INSTIGATORS. 

Gregory VII. 

William, archbishop of Tyre. 

Innocent III.— Foulques of Neuilly.— It was Innocent HI. that founded the Inqui- 
sition, and the mendicant orders of Franciscans and Dominicans. 

Innocent III. loudly blamed the crusaders for having dethroned a Christian emperor 
instead of going to fight the infidels. He hurled an e.xcomraunication, and retracted 
it. He foresaw that the Latins would not long preserve Constantinople. 

PRINCES. 

Philip Augustus, king of France. 
Alexis Comnenes, son of Isaac Angelus. 

WARRIORS. 

Dandolo, doge of Venice. 
Eudes, duke of Burgundy. 



REMARKABLE PERSONS OF THE CRUSADES. 451 

Thibault and Lewis, counts of Blois. 

Thibault, count of Champagne, commands the army ; dies, and is replaced by Boni- 
face, count of Montferrat, who is succeeded by 

Baldwin, count of Flanders. 

Baldwin is chosen emperor at Constantinople, in 1204, after the taking of this 
city by the crusaders. Thus is founded the empire of the Latins, which lasts fifty- 
seven years. 

Baldwin IL, of the house of Courtenay, is dethroned by Michael Paleologus. 



FIFTH CRUSADE. 

INSTIGATORS. 

Innocent III., Honorius III. 

John of Brienne, titular king of Jerusalem. 



Andrew II., king of Hungary. 
John of Brienne. 

Hugh of Lusignan, king of Cyprus, who dying some time after the retreat of the 
king of Hungary, left John of Brienne, sole chief of the crusade. 



SIXTH CRUSADE. 

INSTIOATORS. 



Gregory IX. 

Eudes of Chateauroux, cardinal. 



St. Lewis of France. 

WAREIORS, 

Robert, count of Artois, brother of St. Lewis. He is killed at the battle of Mas- 
eoura. 

Alphonso of Provence, brother of St. Lewis. 

Mile and Salah, sons of Saladin, 

St. Lewis, taken prisoner : he restores Damietta for his ransom. 



SEVENTH CRUSADE. 

INSTIGATOR. 



Urban IV. 



St. Lewis, dies of the plague at Tunis. 

Philip the Bold, his son. 

Charles of Anjou, brother of St. Lewis. 



WARRIORS. 



Alphonso of Provence, brother of St. Lewis ; he dies at Venice, on his way back to 
France. 

Tristan, son of St. Lewis, dies of the plague at Tunis. 



452 ADMINISTRATION OF CHARLES V. AND EDWARD III. 



SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF THE INTERNAL 

ADimiSTRATION OF CHAHLES V. AND EDWARD III. 



Charles V. convokes only once the States 
General, which had been so dangerous 
under the preceding reign. He devises in 
their place Lits de justice, to which the 
great oihcers, some prelates, deputies of 
the burgesses, and the University were 
admitted. 

1364. — Revocation of alienated domains. 
Regulation of appannages. 

1367 — 1372. — Prohibition of private 
wars. 

1374. — Edict of Vincennes, renewed 
from the ordonnance of Carthage (1270), 
concerning the regency and the guardian- 
ship of kings, whose majority is iised at 
fourteen years begun. 

Naval establishments at Harfleur, Di- 
eppe, Rouen, &c. The royal navy which, 
snice Charlemagne, had fallen into decay, 
is restored, and begins to protect com- 
merce, which was also efficaciously en- 
couraged by Charles V. 

The^ Norman sailors double Cape Non 
in the first half of the 14th century ; and 
in 1364, the inhabitants of Dieppe, aided by 
ship owners from Rouen, found at Sierra 
Leone the factory of the Great Sestro 
(Rio Sestos), which flourished for a time. 

The reform of the currency restores to 
commerce the security which it had lost : it 
gives immovables a surer and less varia- 
ble value. 

Charles V. protects literature and its 
cultivators : he founds, at the Louvre, the 
Royal Library. 



Edward III. confirms twenty times Mag- 
na Charta, which was often violated dur- 
ing his reign. 

First admission of the princes of the 
blood into the House of Lords, and pro- 
gress of the House of Commons, the 
meetings of which become annual. Par- 
hament claims the right of judging re- 
sponsible ministers, and confines within 
just bounds the accusation of high treason, 
which had been much abused. 

1362. — Law of parliament prohibiting, 
in public acts, the use of the French lan- 
guage, which was no longer spoken at 
court, and was falling into neglect in the 
schools. From this time the distmctioa 
between the two nations ceases. 

Edward encourages industry, naviga- 
tion, and particularly the woollen trade, 
which formed two-thirds of the exporta- 
tions of the kingdom (294, 184, of the 
age). But the facilities granted by the 
Merchants' Chai'ter to foreign ships 
check the progress of the English mai-ine. 

Edward attracts Flemish weavers into 
his kingdom (1331), and grants honorable 
privileges to movable wealth. 

The Hanseatic merchants had from that 
time, at London, one of their principal 
factories, called the Hanse, or Guildhall 
of the Teutons, as at Bruges, Bergen, and 
Novgorod. 

He protects literature, and particularly 
the University of Oxford, which his chan- 
cellor, Richard Aungerville, emiches with 
a library. 



REFORMS AND INSTITUTIONS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 453 



REFORMS AND INSTITUTIONS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND, 

DURING THE SECOND PERIOD OF THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR, 



Under Charles VI. the parliament of 
Paris becomes permanent, and acquires 
a part in the legislative power by the 
gradual introduction of Registry, and by 
the extension given to the Decrees of 
Regulation, which had the force of law 
throughout the jurisdiction of the ju- 
diciary. 

1403. — Ordonnance of administrative, 
judicial, and financial reform, after a re- 
volt of Cabochians, led by Eustathius of 
Pavilly. Although badly executed, it 
preserves the germ of salutary improve- 
ments, and was a real progress towards 
centralization. 

1421.— Important ordonnance on the cur- 
rency, which is restored to its real value. 

1439.— On the remonstrance of the States 
of Orleans, Charles VII., "wishing to put 
an end to the great excesses and pillages 
of the soldiery," institutes companies of 
gendarmes, by a perpetual edict. In 1448, 
ne organized the bands of Frank Archers, 
who, with the Gens d' Armas, formed a 
standing army of 18,000 men, independent 
of the Scotch guard established in 1421. 

The three orders, in demanding the 
establishment ofa regular public force, had 
consented by implication to the levying of 
a perpetual tax, which the king levied by 
his own authority, and in spite of the re- 
monstrances of the States. The edict of 
1441 says : " There is no need of assemb- 
ling the three States to levy the aforesaid 
taxes." However it does not deny their 
right of voting aids and other taxes. 

These two establishments raise France 
from anarchy, and prepare the ruin of 
feudality : but they give a blow to public 
rights, and cheek the progress of the 
national institutions. 

1443.— Creation of the parliament of 
Toulouse, which forms an integral part 
of that of Paris, with the same honors and 
rights. 

The offices begin to be held for life, and 
the courts of justice acquire thereby a 
salutary independence (ed. of 1446). 

1454. — Edict of Montils-les-Tours con- 
cerning the act of justice. This precious 
monument of civil legislation, forms a 
complete code of procedure remarkable 



Under Richard II., the parliament is by 

turns seditious and servile. 

Under Henry IV., this body acquires 
greater consistency, and exercises a greater 
mfluence in the government. The con- 
currence of the two chambers becomes 
necessary in important affairs, and the 
mitiative of financial bills belongs to the 
Commons (1408). 

1406.— The right of petition and remon- 
strance enters mto the elements of the 
constitution. 

1407. — Statute of Henry IV., giving 
great extension to the right of suffrage. 
' 1430.— Statute of Henry VI., which re- 
stricts the right of suffrage to freeholders 
having 40 shillings income. 

The House of Commons was composed 
of two deputies for each county, each city 
of the royal domain, and each borough 
incorporated by charter or by prescription. 

In England, as in France, tne judiciary 
becomes independent of the crown. 



While the church of France was mak- 
ing every effort to put an end to the 
schism, the English clergy was thinking 
only of extirpating heresy. The doctrines 
of Wickliffe, condemned in 1380 by a 
national synod, and subsequently by the 
council of Constance, had still many par- 
tisans in the House of Commons. But 
Henry IV., who was anxious to gain over 
the ecclesiastical peers, numerous and 
powerful, had a law passed condemning 



454 REFORMS AND INSTITUTIONS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 



for its wisdom. Article 125 prescribes 
the collection and digesting the Customs 
of the kingdom. 

1455. — The States of Languedoc grant 
subsidies, and obtain the reform of diver's 
abuses. 

1438. — Pragmatic sanction of Bourges, 
which, in conformity with the decrees of 
the council of Basle, re-establishes canon- 
ical elections, and abolishes annats, re- 
serves, expectatives, and other exactions. 

Reform of the University by Cardinal 
Estouteville. It counted 25,000 students. 

Agriculture and commerce begin to 
flourish again. Already under Charles 
VI. John of Bethencourt of Dieppe had 
discovered the Canaries, and opened the 
way for the voyages of the Portuguese 
(First Grants oj Africa, in 1450) ; James 
Coeur keeps up intercourse with all parts 
of the world, and assists the State in her 
need. " Thanks to him," says a contem- 
porary, " there was no mast in the East- 
ern sea without the fleur-de-lis." But the 
jealousy of the great procured his con- 
demnation as peculator in 1453. 



ENGLAND. 



heretics to the stake (1400). William Sau- 
ter and Old Castel were the first victims. 
In Scotland, the reformation of Wicklifie 
was suppressed by the same means. 

The English marine is developed by the 
codfish and herring fishery, an immense 
source of wealth, and inexhaustible means 
of nourishment for the poorer classes in 
England, and, above all, in Holland, where 
a sailor, named Bucolz, had just invented 
the art of barrelling herrings. 



Commerce, encouraged by Edward m., 
languished during the wars with France. 
The Navigation Acts of 1381 and 1.390, 
which confined the exportation of English 
goods to English bottoms, did not produce 
the results which were expected from it. 
The war of the Roses was still to retard 
for a long while the development of mari- 
time cornmerce. 



THE END. 



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